LASG pledges support for 60 pupil farmers

AUGUST 26, 2013  

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola

The Lagos State Government has pledged its continued support for 60 pupil farmers from the state’s public secondary schools.

The pupils were earlier trained for two weeks in agricultural entrepreneurship on  aquaculture, poultry, vegetable farming and tree planting at the Lagos State Agricultural Training Institute, Araga, Epe.

The initiative, tagged, Agricultural Summer School, is part of the Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme, AGRIC-YES programme of the government.

The training, which is the third in the series, had 10 pupils drawn from each of the the six Education Districts in the state.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Gbolahan Lawal,  at the closing of the 2013 summer school training on Friday, said the pupils would set up farms in their schools.

He said, “So far, 180 pupils have been empowered through the summer school, while 10 teachers have also been trained.

Also, no fewer than 36 schools in the state have farms set up by pupils who had undergone the empowerment training.

Lawal explained that the pupils were taken round some big farms in the state and given training on how to set up fish ponds and other agricultural activities. He urged them to set up their private farms and venture into large scale agricultural production after the completion of their education. The commissioner said there was a need to boost food production in the country.

Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, said the aim of the initiative was also to get many pupils in the state interested in agriculture.

Oladunjoye, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs. Tini Idris, said, “We also hope to improve teachers’ technical skills through practical agricultural literacy and awareness.

“Also, the government has completed plans to reactivate the young farmers’ club in all public schools in the state.”