Agric undergraduates must own personal farms, FG declares

-Agricultural courses should teach students more of practicals than theory.

-Social science courses will soon be phased out of federal universities of agriculture.

The federal government, through the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has mandated that all students studying courses in agricultural related disciplines must own a farm each once they get to 200 level.

This was handed down in a meeting which held on Tuesday at the Minister’s office in Abuja in the presence of the governing council members of the three federal universities of agriculture.

Chief Ogbeh, directed members of the governing councils of the universities to make it mandatory that graduation from any of the agricultural based institutions should be based on 60 per cent of practical work and 40 per cent theory.

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The federal government has also said social sciences will soon be phased out from the academic programmes of federal universities of agriculture in the country.

He said, “The new agenda enjoins you to be more innovative and enterprising. In the new dispensation, every undergraduate must, and I repeat, must own a farm on campus from 200 Level. Graduation should be based on 60 per cent on practice and 40 per cent theory.

“We are training high level young farmers who, even before graduating, should have started earning a living. We should be training graduates who should be going straight into production, with credit support from their Alma-Mata, produce chicken, eggs, goats, milk, set up meat laboratories, bake bread and above all produce and sell large quantities of high quality hybrid seeds.”