From Kayemo News
Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, has disclosed that efforts were underway to establish the Ekiti Farmers’ House in Ado-Ekiti, in partnership with the state government and the 16 local government areas.
According to him, the proposed initiative would acquire modern agricultural equipment, including bulldozers, ridgers, ploughs and harvesters, which would be made available to farmers at affordable rates.
Babalola said that the initiative was aimed at enabling farmers, especially youths and university graduates, to embrace modern and large-scale agriculture instead of relying on traditional farming implements.
This was just as he awarded a total of N11.2m to best farmers drawn across the 16 local government Area of Ekiti State.
Babalola disclosed this at the grand finale of the 2026 edition of the Annual Afe Babalola Agricultural Expo in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The legal icon said the initiative was established to encourage more Nigerians, particularly youths and university graduates, to embrace agriculture as a viable profession and means of livelihood.
Babalola explained that the cash award had increased from the N5m given to farmers when the agricultural expo started in 2015, adding that a total of N98m had so far been expended on cash awards since the commencement of the programme.
He said, “When we started in 2015, the star prize was N1m to the overall Best Farmer in Ekiti State, with the Best Farmer in each of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state going home with N250,000 each.
“All of that have since changed for the better. In the last four years, however, the Best Overall Farmer in the state has been going home with N2m, while the best three farmers in each of the 16 local government councils in the state have been going home with N250,000.”
Babalola urged the beneficiaries to invest their prize money wisely, saying the amount of money available to an individual was less important than how it was utilised.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to urge the winners of this year’s edition of ABAEX to invest whatever they win wisely and judiciously, bearing in mind that the richest people in the world today started from nothing.
“All they did was to invest the little, the seed money, they had wisely. The lesson here is that it is not the quantum of money one has that matters, but what one does with the little one has.”
Babalola said that his interest in agriculture was rooted in his upbringing, recalling that he was born and raised on his father’s farm and initially aspired to continue farming before he was persuaded to attend school.
He expressed concern that many Nigerians, particularly youths, had abandoned farming for white-collar jobs, menial jobs and other activities, warning that the trend could worsen hunger and poverty.
Babalola expressed concern over insecurity, including kidnapping, robbery and attacks on farmers, which he said had discouraged people from going to their farms.
“Farming has become more discouraged. No thanks to the spate of insecurity ranging from kidnapping, robbery and invasion by herdsmen ravaging the country.
Life is no longer safe at home, on the farm, on the road or even in classrooms. The combination of these ills has led to many abandoning farming”, he said.
He, however, commended Ekiti farmers for remaining committed to agriculture despite the challenges confronting the sector, particularly insecurity, which he said had discouraged many people from venturing into farming.
The founder of ABUAD also disclosed that ABUAD had continued to encourage the study of agriculture by reducing tuition fees for agriculture students by 50 per cent and providing N250,000 seed money to each graduate of agriculture to start an agribusiness after graduation.