The Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has signed an agreement of cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to develop an agribusiness knowledge economy in the state.
It was gathered that the deal to be reached at the meeting in Jerusalem will trigger Agric revolution, which will culminate into rapid development of agribusiness in the state, as one of its economic mainstays.
It will be recalled that the Executive Adviser and Director-general of Oyo State Agribusiness Agency, Dr Debo Akande recently hosted the Netherlands Condular-General and his team and other foreign and local investors in Ibadan, in a bid to fashion out a new course of action to develop agribusiness in the state.
According to Dr Akande during the one day event recently held in Ibadan, Oyo State has recorded a 27 billion-naira direct private sector investment in the state within the last three years following the consistency of the state government in its agribusiness policies and drive.
Governor Makinde, as part of follow up to the state government’s commitment towards what it called agricultural revolution which is expected to create a strong value chain and employment opportunity, has penned down a deal with the Israeli university.
Gov. Makinde stated: “This afternoon, as part of our visit to Israel to meet investors and institutions that have shown interest in Oyo State’s agribusiness policies, we signed an agreement of cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to develop an agribusiness knowledge economy.
“The partnership includes scholarship offers, knowledge transfer and exchange programmes between the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Oyo State owned Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
“We also met with Oyo State students at the university.
“During the course of our stay in Israel, we have visited 2 kibbutzes (farm settlements) – a dairy farm and another farm which produces lettuce and fish, to see agritech deployment in modern agribusinesses”, he added.