Multinational companies and commercial banks operating in Nigeria must be mandated to have mechanized farms or agricultural processing outfits – UI Don 

Oluwatosin Adeoye

Professor Emmanuel Atoo Ajav, a Professor of Farm Power and Machinery of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan has recommended that all productive multinational companies and commercial banks operating in Nigeria should mandatorily have mechanized farms or agricultural processing outfits to aid economic growth.

Professor Ajav made this recommendation while delivering the 551st Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ibadan on the topic “The Local and International Faces of Agricultural Engineering” on the 20th June, 2024 at the Trenchard Hall, stressing that the implementation of the recommendation will bring about increase in employment opportunities, food availability and improvement in the entire economic framework of the nation Nigeria.

He added that the entirety of the agricultural engineering departments in the nation should be charged with the duty of ensuring the availability of machines to meet the needs of their immediate environments.

The Professor of Farm Power and Machinery asserted that there had been many viable agricultural programmes in Nigeria, but lack of adequate implementation or corruption has negatively affected their implementation.

Professor Ajav also used the platform to recommend that the African Union implement the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa document to revolutionize agricultural mechanization in Africa confirming that he was part of the FAO team of African Agricultural Engineers who developed a framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa. 

He also mentioned that engineering principles used in agricultural and environmental engineering are the same all over the world, and when used appropriately at the local and international levels, results will be outstanding and acceptable all over the world, emphasizing that there are no boundaries to the application of engineering principles as all formulas and equations are the same and universal.