Efforts to turn empty lands in State-owned tertiary institutions in Plateau State into farmlands have received a boost as the State government donates tractors to some of them to encourage them to expand agricultural activities, cultivate crops, and ensure food production.
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the Plateau State University, PLASU, Bokkos, Professor Shedrack Best, who received a tractor on behalf of his institution, commended the State Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the initiative, saying it is a commitment to expanding agricultural training and food production programs to solidify the Governor’s agricultural transformation plan.
Presenting the tractor, Mutfwang, through the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Samson Bugama, noted, “We aim to take away the hoes and cutlasses and bring technology to meet the food needs of Plateau State. Last year, we cultivated 6,000 hectares, but this year, we’re looking at cultivating 15,000 hectares for vulnerable communities, schools in particular.
“We will also go around secondary schools and cultivate their land so that we can build interest in agriculture, but the first thing we need to do is strengthen the institutions that help our young people to learn agriculture and take away the drudgery that comes with agriculture.”
The Acting Vice Chancellor, in his response, a statement by the institution’s Acting Public Relations Officer, Masara Kim, highlighted the University’s agricultural resources, including a dam, the Agricultural Services and Training Corporation (ASTC), and vast land.
“Our young students will be excited to see the machine. They will use it for learning. It will motivate them. We are a rural-based university located at the hub of agriculture. A lot of farming activity takes place here.
So, whether it is in research or actual tillage of land or animal husbandry, in all the areas, when we bring our Faculty of Agriculture, which is young and ambitious and growing into place, we believe that we have a lot to contribute,” Professor Best stated.
