Ondo flags off ‘School on the Ridges’ scheme.

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Wednesday flagged of ‘ School on the Ridges programme’ tagged ‘Agricbusiness’ for secondary schools in Ondo State.

At the event, thousands of cashew and oil palm seedlings were distributed to secondary school students.

Flagging off the programme tagged: ‘Schools at Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure, Akeredolu, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Otunba Adegboyega Adefarati, said the programme became necessary to redirect the psyche of the students aimed at making agriculture a money-making venture.

He urged students from the nine schools selected from the three senatorial districts in the state for the flagg-off to key into the programme with seriousness.

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the governor on Agriculture and Agribusiness, Akin Olotu noted that agribusiness was introduced to discourage the belief that poor people go into agriculture.

He said one hectare was set aside by each of the overall 90 schools selected for the programme

Olotu informed the students of the importance of agriculture and the new dimension to the business which is currently at low ebb in the country.

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The agric expert revealed that post-primary school students are being encouraged to see agric as another veritable and lucrative means of generating revenue.

According to him, the programme was designed to prepare the students towards doing business outside the classroom.

He urged teachers to desist from using agriculture as punitive measure in instilling discipline in students, noting that this always undermined the psyche of students in seeing agriculture as a good venture.

Olotu disclosed that the flag-off is the Phase I of the programme which has been segmented into three phases.

He added that schools would use the programme as a means of generating revenue in addition to subventions being received from government.

Oyemekun Grammar School, Stephen Ojo said what the schools needed was encouragement and support by the government in entrenching modern agriculture in secondary schools in the state.

He charged the state government to make the programme a mechanized one, saying most students don’t have the strength to practice the old cutlass and hoe system of farming.

Olotu however assured that the Ondo State Agribusiness and Development Centre would appoint monitoring officers to supervise the projects in each of the participating schools to ensure survival of the seedlings.

Stakeholders at the even were led to the already cleared farmland by where they planted the Brazilian species of cashew seedlings brought by the state Ministry of Agriculture for distribution.

Among the beneficiary schools are St Peter’s Unity Secondary School, Akure, Imade College,  Owo. Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School, Akure, Erinje Grammar School, Ode Erinje.

Community High School, Kiribo, Gboluji Grammar School, Ile Oluji, Ireakari Secondary School, Idoani,  and Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure.

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