Don advocates all-inclusive adoptable research

A Professor of Ruminant Nutrition and Forage Science in the Department of Pasture and Range Management (PRM), College of Animal Science and Livestock Production (COLANIM) of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB),Ogun Sate, Prof. Oluwasanmi Arigbede, has called for an all-inclusive and adoptable research for the good of the society.

Discussing some of his research findings, Professor Arigbede, who is also the Director, Centre for Innovation and Strategy in Learning and Teaching (CISLT), said there was always lack of adequate feeds, over the years, in terms of quality and quantity for farmers to feed their ruminant animals during the dry seasons. 

This he said has brought about his concern, on how feeds could be made available for the animals in these categories, in and out of season. 

This quest, he said, has brought about his involvement iwith various researchers and research institutes that had brought about initiatives such as the Forage-based Pellets and the Forage-based Feed Blocks, which are presently being fed to the West African dwarf rams, for adaptability purposes.

Prof. Arigbede disclosed that he started his research on the multipurpose trees alongside the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, where he and other co-researchers were engaged in livestock integration into Alley Farming, under the Alley Farming Network for Tropical Africa (AFNETA), which involves making forage resources useful in various forms, through feeding them to animals. 

According to him, over the years, they have worked with the foliage, which have earned him and the research team enough publications. 

The Don noted that establishments, such as the Research and Development Centre (RESDEC), which later metamorphosed into the Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR) of FUNAAB, the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the Directorate of Grants Managements, FUNAAB had been very supportive with grants, at various periods when they ought to be, while he, on his part had equally took loans when necessary, just to get things done for his research. 

He described research as a call for passion, while advising those that do not have passion for it, not to venture going into the exercise, even if they have the resources. On the nation’s agricultural policy, Prof. Arigbede frowned at poor implementation approach adopted by the government, which he said was the bane of its development. 

He also narrowed down to the issue of grazing reserves bill being debated often, as it is presently affecting it.

And on herdsmen’s attacks, he said that they (herdsmen) had a long history with some of the people by co-habiting peacefully with them. He asked: “why is there killing in some parts of the country? And why are herdsmen the culprits?” The Don, stressed the need to ascertain, if truly, the perpetrators were Fulani herdsmen from Nigeria or not.