NSE, Two Firms Sign MoU to Establish Demonstration Farms

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) yesterday signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with two Nigerian firms to ramp up the establishment of additional demonstration farms nationwide, in line with the new agenda of the engineering body.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Abuja, President of NSE, Margaret Oguntala, noted that the programme will not only lead to the creation of jobs for Nigerians, but will be mutually beneficial to all the parties involved.
The deal which was signed with Integrated Lancaster Farms as well as Assetrise Limited, will see the introduction of new technologies and innovation in solving Nigeria’s food insecurity, the proponents said.
Oguntala explained that the NSE was looking forward to delivering on its goals, especially as contained in the organisation’s strategic agenda.
“We expect that this will be a mutually beneficial relationship, which will not only enhance the activities of the NSE, but also improve your businesses. Because at the end of the day, you also need to account to your shareholders what benefits you have been able to derive from this relationship.
“So we on our part, we will do all that we can to make sure that you get all the benefits that you should get from this relationship, which will then cascade to our members. Because again, it’s all in the interest of our members,” Oguntala stated.
According to her, the deal will also be in the interest of developing Nigeria, particularly agriculture, stressing that this aligns with this year’s annual conference theme of the NSE.
In his remarks, the Group Managing Director of Assetrise Limited, Oluwadurotimi Ojamamoye, who led a team from the company, explained that the programme will involve an incubation hub for students who are graduating from school into owning their own farms.
At the Federal University of Agriculture, he said the school gave the firm 100 hectares in its campus where it is cultivating millions tubers of yams, noting that it was expanding the project to 1,000 hectares.

“So as the students are graduating, they can cultivate one hectare each to empower themselves. And that programme is empowering 1,500 students and the NSE is collaborating with us to achieve that.

“Currently, we run the biggest farm in Lagos state. It is assumed that Lagos doesn’t have land. And so we have to depend elsewhere for food. But Epe has a lot of land. We were able to cultivate over a million tubers in 2023.

“And this year, we’re delivering close to 3 million tubers in Lagos state. And we’ve been able to also introduce to our Smart City project, a 3,000 hectares project which is presently ongoing,” he said.

Also speaking, Co-founder of Integrated Lancaster Farms, Patrick Obidoyin, said that one of the visions of Lancaster Farms is to be able to empower the youth and take them out of the job market.

He stated that Nigeria has every resources it needs to move from its current food production deficit to having a surplus, expressing the hope towards a more fruitful and beneficial relationship to all parties.