RSG, RSUST’s Synergy’ll Boost Agric – Don

A Professor of Plant Pathology and Protection, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Edith Chisa Chuku, has said that a strategic synergy between the Rivers State Government and the institution will boost agricultural research, development and production in the state.
She said that this would be accelerated if the government intervenes, and re-acquires the Rivers Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (RIART) for the purpose of conducting agricultural research, crop development and production to enhance food sufficiency and security for the citizenry.
The professor, who is also director, Students Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES), disclosed this in her office at the university main campus in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during an exclusive interview with The Tide, recently.
Chuku said that government action in that regard has become imperative in view of the urgent necessity to diversify the state’s economy and increase employment opportunities for the youth, especially through agriculture.
She emphasised that the school has all it takes in terms of crop and animal scientists, whose technical knowledge will help the state fast-track the momentum in achieving aggressive agriculture, noting that agriculture should not be left in the hands of individuals alone as mechanized farming was required now more ever before to revive the economy.
The professor lamented that since RIART was taken over by the previous administration and handed over to Rivers State Sustainable Development (RSSDA), the vast land for agricultural research, development and production, has been lying fallow, thereby undermining the state’s quest to grow its economy.
Chuku stated that as a university, it was ready and prepared to go into aggressive agricultural production on the vast RIART land, if government returns the institute to the university, promising that RIART would be transformed to a centre of excellence for local food production as well as for export.
She recalled that the original plan of the Rivers State Government on the RIART, was to utilize the vast land for agricultural training, demonstration and farming, appealing that RIART should be given back to the Faculty of Pathology for practical agricultural research, production and demonstration.
Chuku said: “We have relied so much on oil. If we utilize that place, we can boast of export; and crops would be processed and sold outside the state. This will create youth employment, increase food production and help the state government increase its revenue base for investment into other sectors.
“Agriculture has suffered so much over the years in this state due to lack of support, and now that the state is facing a lull in the economy, I think there is no harm in venturing into agriculture as a priority in the soonest possible time.”
“Before now, funding was a major problem of the university but before the last accreditation, the Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration did a lot support research, training and funding to encourage education and agriculture.
“Our laboratories are equipped and most of the departments that were denied accreditation before now have been accredited. Also, in the area of partnerships that would move the state forward, Chief Nyesom Wike is doing very well,” Chuku noted.
She hinted that the university’s collaboration with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) formerly at Onne, but now relocated to Ibadan, would help push forward new ways of increasing food production in the state.
She appealed to the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to ensure that RIART is returned to RSUST to enable professionals in the university maximize the institute to boost agricultural productivity.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana