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At' the ~rec,ent1y: concluded' Biofach lft,ternational: .... JUlUV.LUV'LL

Nuremberg, ~y, .th,~ world largest gai:p.ering and displar of o~­garucagticultw'e crops I products, ~dokeJ\kintola University ofTeclj.~ nalogy aAUTEPi)Agrlculhiral ServicesLiriUted, Ogbom0s6; Oyo· State, was the only' ~resentative· fron\·Niger4l tf:iat ,particip~ted

. thegIobal ~ition.SeyeAdeniyi speakS With the Managmg,Direc­tor, LAUTECH AgricUitural Setvi~ (L.N?) Ltd/ Dr Victor A~egboye .

. Togun. on why the University Organic agriCulture progran1me COItnnH H'

. ties . to attract global attentio~ the chiillenges fac::ing the project, (

acliieveinenti;,of the programme in the yeats; as 'W'~ as the' £0-.~ pkn for ~~ farm. ilmOI:lS other . iSsues.Exofu$;

Wt:.AT is the situation of things at the LA UTECH organic farm and what is the secret behind the recent attention and at-

traction from the international rommunities to the farm? The organic fann of LAUTEG-l was incorporated in

2006 as a public liability company by Professor Adeleke, the then Vice-Chancellor of the university. TI1at year, we started work on the organic farm and LAUTEG-l Agricul­tural Services Ltd (LAS) started with six hectares of fann­land for ginger, two hectares of turmeric and one hectare of lemon grass.

Then, it was like' a pilot project, but the .. organic farm has now become an attraction for international communi­ties, especially international agricultural agencies and in- . ternational market. • Now ~1ere is a tremendous in1provement in the fann

and to prove our relevance in organic farming last year, we were invited to participate in the Biofach International Exhibition which took place in Nuremberg, Germany. Biofach is an annual general meeting place for all the play­ers in organic agriculture all over the world.

In fact, the organic agriculture programme of LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, has put the university on a noticeable and significant spot on the world's agri­culture map.

Are you getting support from experts both within and outside the rounuy for fast development of the organic farm?

Yes, we have a lot of internal and ex ternal sup­ports, especia lly in the area of training and market­ing. For example, we have an expert, Mr James Cole of ELOC farms, Ghana, helping us in the area of train­ing; managements and other essential services.

The Ghanaian expert is an interna tionall y re­spected organic crops I products specialist and he is helping us in the area of capacity building, exporta­tion of other crops like pineapple, pawpaw and cit­rus. He has been jn the business for over 10 years and has farms in Ghana. He has actually exposed us to many contacts. .

Also, when we were in Biofach exhibition a t Nuremberg, Germany, we got many orders from many countries demanding for our ginger, turmeric and lemon grass. The orders were from both individuals and mostly international companies based in South­Africa, Netherland, Slovenia, India, United Kingdom, Holland, France, Germany, Romania 'and USA. Some of these countries asked for essential oil and juices from these organic crops (ginger, turmeric and lemon grass).

starting a large scale commercial production of these consumables. .

Do you have other organic products apart from essential oil and juice?

Yes, apart from ginger, lemon grass and turmeric pow­der, we have honey, mushroom, cashew, as well as other emerging products like pineapple, pawpaw, plantain, ba­nana, mango, water I golden melon, cucumber, lettuce, amaranthus and chil ies.

Which area of organic farming is posing a serious challenge to you?

Last year for example, we had problems in the area of maintenance of weeds on the farm . We Spl'llt '"

much money on labour to control the weeds I:>l,,',ll"" we cannot use insecticides. We are practising or~<lI1i,'

agriculture and the use of chemicals is highly prohib· ited. So, we spent so much money on plastic mulching to control the weeds. Don't also forget that we can ' t use inorganic fertilisers on the farm.

Why the huge international demand for LA UTECH organic products?

Other countries of the world like Japan, Malaysia, China, India and others have ginger, turmeric and other organic crops. Bu t the reason for global a tten-

tion and demand for organic crops I What happened at the Biofach 2010

world organic products exhibition in Ger­many?

'" At Biofach 2010, we got an order for or- . ganie products and the request was so big that we are brainstom1ing on it presently.

: ,i'When d,tey ,tested our spec\es of ginger and tumeric, many nations of the world fell in love I Ii. , . , <,

products from LAUTECH is basica lh' because of the quality.

When they tested our species "f ~"" ger at Biofach exhibition in Gemh\l1\ . many nations of the world fell in Ill"" with it because of special qualities like

~ with them because of their special qualities." .

All the participants from different parts of the world were highly in1pressed with the quality of our organic products. The quality of our ginger, tunneric and lemon grass were rated high, unique aJ)d different in terms of many values, compared to that of.gther nations of the world.

What are the plans of the school authority for the farm this year?

TI1is year, we are planning to increase on our hectarage of production. We are going to plant 10 hectares of ginger, seven hectares of turmeric and three hectares of lemon grass, in addition to what is already on ground. .

I must say that the authority of the university, under the leadership of Professor Moshood Nassar, the Vice-Chan­cellor of LAUTEG-l, has been cooperative, supportive and always ready to maintain the standard of the organic fann in terms' of needed assistance from time to time and the fann is now rated as one of the best organic fanns in the country today. .

Were there dIallenges enrountered in the past which af­fected your productivity?

The tussle between Oyo and Osun states over who .con­troIs the affairs of the great institution really slow down our activities. The court injunctions be=e a serious chal­lenge to us, but we thank God that it is over now.

Now; we are expanding our holdings and one good thing is that by May 2011, we are expecting a pre­auditing inspection of our certifying body. We're go­ing to have certification from the Institute of Market Ecology (!MO), one of the major certifying bodies in the world for organic crops. So, everything we are doing now is to get ourselves ready for the certifica-

'SEVEN 'h~dred anll , twenty. co-aperailve

-socieiies in Edo State ~ave \1lmefitted froiJ.J. the U1~ state' II Nl 1!illlot\ Co­bi:?eraiive Farmers' loah. _

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made to ensure that. the loan fact1ity got to the ao-: hial flInners. .

Accoralng toJWn; "com-

its degree of pungency, aroma, medicinal values, and spicy effects, as well as other unique taste,

Do you have sufficient fund and manpower to carry 'out expected activities on the farm?

The ulJiversity is trying to help and assist us with the needed fund, but if you considered the order we brought from Germany to supply these organic prod­ucts, then we need big money to carry out the assign­ment.

For instance, we were asked to supply 3,300 tonnes of organic ginger, 5,500 tones of dry turmeric and 60 tones of lemon grass. We are appealing to the federal and state governments to help us with funds so that we can con­tinue to be the best institution with organic farm in any known higher institution in Nigeria.

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