Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The Vice-Chancellor, Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Prof. Babatunde Idowu, has said the institution has set up the machinery to go into Cocoa farming to tackle unemployment.
He disclosed this during his inaugural press conference with newsmen at the university in Ogwa, Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.
Babatunde said the nation once had the tallest building called the Cocoa House in the West and that the country made so much money from Cocoa production in the past, adding that the university had made it its duty to bring back the heydays by going into Cocoa farming to tackle the high rate of the nation’s unemployment.
“We intend to start a Cocoa revolution in Esanland and the entire South-South region. In fact, Ghana was the first African country to start producing chocolate bars. Soon, GVU will start the production of chocolate.
“We have 667 hectares of land. I know that we have a large chunk of the land from the master plan and it is dedicated to agriculture.
“We have started our nursery for cocoa; we have started our nursery for cashews; we are improving on the oil palms nursery.
“We are going to start gradually and we are going to encourage the friends of the institution to assist us.
“In fact, within the next three months, the university will start an industrial park which will be a hub for large scale agricultural activities such as apiary, production of plantain chips, cassava flour, bread production, cocoa farming, and processing among others,” he said.
The new vice-chancellor said the institution is going to extend its technical-know-how in farming to its host community as part of its social responsibility initiative in order to boost their farming prowess.