The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta through its Community-Based Farming Scheme (COBFAS), has begun the sale of yams.
Director of the scheme Prof Sunday Adigbo noted that the university was lucky to have a fruitful harvest this year despite various challenges, stressing that the support from staff members contributed to the success of the harvest.
“We planted November last year and it did well. Though we were faced with challenges like labour and stagnation of rain, we were still able to come out with bountiful harvest. There was cessation of rain from July till around the second week of September. We were lucky, unlike other crops that failed,” he said.
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Prof Adigbo noted that the financial support from the university was instrumental to the overall success of the harvest. He lauded members of staff of COBFAS for the team work and cooperation, noting that COBFAS has about 1.2 hectares of yam plantation.
The Principal Agricultural Officer of COBFAS, Mr Augustine Kuforiji, noted that the ongoing yam sales was part of efforts by the centre to ensure food sufficiency following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated that despite the great challenge posed by the pandemic andclimate change, the centre was able to put in the necessary work to make sure there was enough food to satisfy the immediate needs of the people and the FUNAAB community at large.
“The input this year is commensurate with the output even though we cannot give full assessment yet because we are still harvesting. Meanwhile, we should have had more and bigger products than this, but due to the climate change and the short fall of rain in the second quarter to the beginning of third quarter, we were a little bit challenged but the sizes we have seen so far are quite good and people have been patronising us,” he stated.
Speaking on people’s perception about the prices of the yam, Mr. Kuforiji noted that before sales started, they had done their market survey and the prices at which the yams are being sold presently were good enough, adding that though some members of the university were of the opinion that they should be given out for free. He, however, said that due to the prevailing economic situation, they have had a reasonable patronage by buyers, stressing that many people appreciated the efforts of COBFAS at bringing quality yam for them.
Mrs. Olubukola Ogunremila, Principal Accountant Officer of COBFAS, stated that the pricing was commendable, adding that people had been coming to patronise them.
Mrs. Sokari Pedro, who patronized COBFAS praised the university for the initiative and stated that she got to know about the yam sale through an online agricultural platform.