A Professor of Farm Power and Machinery, Professor Emmanuel Atoo Ajav, has submitted that enginering principles used in agricultural and environmental engineering are the same all over the world and when used appropriately at the local and international levels, results will be outstanding and acceptable all over the world.
Professor Ajav made this submission in the inaugural lecture he
delivered on behalf of the Faculty of Technology.
Entitled “The Local and International Faces of Agricultural Engineering,” the inaugural lecture was the first in the series of inaugural lectures for the 2023/2024 academic session at the University of Ibadan.
Prof. Ajav said there are no boundaries to the application of enginering principles, adding that anywhere in the world, as far as enginering is concerned, all formulas and equations are the same and universal.
According to him, what matters is how they are applied and how they are utilised.
The inaugural lecturer said he had contributed to efforts aimed at boosting productivity. He had carried out many research studies to assist farmers in maize harvesting; analysis of the use of tractors in different poles of agricultural development; development of low cost, simple, appropriate, and up-to-date equipment and machines for effective processing of food and agricultural crops; and modification of already existing machines for improved performance and efficiency.
Professor Ajav said he was part of the FAO team of African Agricultural Engineers who developed a framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa.
He observed that there had been many good agricultural programmes in Nigeria, but they either lacked adequate implementation or corruption did not allow them to be implemented at all.
He, therefore, recommended that the African Union should implement the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa document to revolutionise agricultural mechanisation in Africa.
Professor Ajav recommended that all productive multinational companies and commercial banks operating in Nigeria should mandatorily have mechanised farms or agricultural processing outfits to increase employment opportunities, increase food availability as well as increase their income.
He also recommended that all agricultural engineering departments in the country should be tasked to provide machines to meet the needs of their immediate environments.
