By Olalekan Ola
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, in conjunction with Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife and Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, has trained over 100 vegetable farmers on digital agriculture.
The workshop for Training the Trainers, was held at OAU Progressive (IFE) Cooperative Investment and Credit Society Limited, Ile-Ife.
The Convener of the Programme from the Faculty of Agriculture Economics, OAU, Ile-Ife, Prof Adeolu Ayanwale, commended the donors for given lifelong learning to vegetable farmers for the benefit of mankind.
Ayanwale said the programme came at the right time that Nigeria is facing the challenges of food insecurity, saying this workshop will provide solutions and give hopes to the hopeless.
He said the essence of the training is to sensitise the farmers on the potential digital facilities that would improve their production.
"We discovered that the manual way of farming is not very efficient, so we want to let people see the potential of digital agriculture, encourage and teach them how to use it in various ways.
"This workshop would change the notion of some people that every vegetable that has fertilizer application is not healthy for humanity.
"But farmers would understand that the right quantity, quality, time and place of fertilizer application on vegetables matter most", he posited.
He enjoined participants to train others at home and let them know that fertilizer should be applied in a way that would be useful to the plants and human consumption.
Also, Dr Mary Idowu, CommonwWealth Scholar, from the Faculty of Agriculture Economics, OAU, Ile-Ife, urged participants to make use of digital advisors such as Social media, Facebook, WhatsApp, telegram, Twitter,E-mail and phone calls for vegetable productive.
Idowu maintained that fertilizer is not a poison, if well applied to the vegetables, but would make farmers to get good yield, vegetables which is nutritious to human health.
She promised participants that they would be empowered and be trained on right method of how to use fertilizers for them to produce good vegetables that would promote the health of the masses and bring more money to them.
According to her, they would be thought the method for planting, spacing the plants and be able to identify nutrients deficiency symptoms on the plants.
The Commonwealth Scholar assured their readiness to assist and train more farmers for them to solve problems of the nation, called for government support on farmers on lifelong learning.
In the same vein, Dr Olufemi Oladunni, the Executive Director, ARMTI, urged vegetable farmers to ensure that they are trustworthy in their team.
Oladunni, who was represented by Mr Peter Popoola, counselled them to participate effectively in their group by punctual always. He advised them to have positive attitude and share information that would assist them in their work.
Mr Olusegun Oni, a trainer and researcher at ARMTI, enlightened vegetable farmers on financial literacy, urged them to start their business with their savings, instead of getting bank loans.
Oni appealed to them on adequate planning, records keeping, savings in case of emergency needs and for business continuation as well as partronising internet banking, mobile application, automated teller machines.
Also, the Management Development Officer at ARMTI, Mr Kingsley Olurinde, advised vegetable farmers to ensure efficient market for their produce before production.
He trained them on designing marketing strategy for their vegetable production, such as: price, place, preservation, packaging and rebranding their vegetable up to exporting them to avoid wastage.
A Professor of Soil Science and Former Dean of Agriculture Faculty, OAU, Prof Duro Oyedele, admonished vegetable farmers to have contract arrangements with their buyers on sales of their produce.
Oyedele charged participants to make use of new technology for their goods despite the price fluctuation, climate change and climate variability to ensure that their efforts are not wasted.
The president of Agro Processor, Osun State chapter, Mrs Comfort Olaosun, appreciated the organisers of the programme, saying she benefited immensely on the workshop.
Olaosun promised to utilise all she gained and ready to train others as well as increase members of her team.