UNIJOS partners Thailand university on rice production

The University of Jos (UNIJOS) Plateau State has reached agreement with the Kasetsart University, Thailand, on domestication of Thailand-grown rice in the country.

Consequently, UNIJOS has acquired 1,000 hectares of land for the rice project and has concluded plans to strike partnership between the soon-to-take-off UNIJOS Faculty of Agriculture and professors of horticulture from the Thailand-based university as part of efforts to address the problem of food insecurity.

Speaking on the proposed rice farming project, Hayward Mafuyai, vice-chancellor, UNIJOS, said expertise would be shared between the two universities so that the students of the Faculty of Agriculture, Plateau State farmers and the nation at large would benefit from the collaboration.

The vice-chancellor said that “this collaboration is of national importance because we know that crops like rice is well consumed in the country. We need to do better in rice production in terms of improving the yield and sharing expertise, which will improve rice production.

“The arrival of this team is very timely as we are soon to take off the Faculty of Agriculture, the faculty will take off very strongly and the collaboration will provide opportunity for students and researchers to go on exchange programmes.”

He said the collaboration would effectively address problem of food insecurity and provide employment as well as robust empowerment to farmers for better rice production and harvest.

Responding, Sakeson Sarobol, deputy head of mission, Royal Thai Embassy, Abuja, who led the team of professors of Horticultural Science, Kasetsart University to UNIJOS, said that Thailand would collaborate with UNIJOS via the Thailand-Africa Policy in order to fully explore possible cooperation in the field of agriculture.

According to him, “Kasetsart University, Thailand, has a reputation for agriculture. We are here to explore possible cooperation in the field of agriculture and we will like to explore this cooperation for the benefit of the two countries.”

Hope Ikwe