{"id":2327,"date":"2026-07-26T01:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2327"},"modified":"2026-07-26T01:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:29:26","slug":"delsu-faculty-of-agriculture-at-33-dean-cites-government-neglect-outlines-farm-sites-amid-calls-for-livestock-sector-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2327","title":{"rendered":"DELSU Faculty Of Agriculture At 33: Dean Cites Government Neglect, Outlines Farm Sites Amid Calls For Livestock Sector Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By John Oghenegare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Delta State University (DELSU), Professor J.K. Ehimelu, has raised concerns over the growing challenges facing agriculture in Nigeria, describing them as “multi-dimensional” and rooted in both policy failures and natural factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the state of agriculture and the faculty’s contributions since its establishment in 1992, Professor Ehimelu said the faculty, located at the Anwai Campus in Asaba, has grown into one of the university’s most structured faculties, comprising six departments and nine academic programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dean stressed that agriculture remains indispensable to human survival, noting that food is a basic necessity and that agriculture is a viable and rewarding profession. However, he lamented that the sector continues to struggle because successive governments pay lip service to agriculture while giving it little attention in terms of funding and policy implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Agriculture often takes the back seat when high-level policymakers are making decisions,”<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also identified climate change as a major challenge, explaining that changing weather patterns have disrupted farming seasons and affected food production across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these challenges, Professor Ehimelu maintained that every branch of agriculture remains profitable, depending on the area of specialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The faculty currently operates six departments: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extension, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Animal Science, Forestry and Wildlife, and Agronomy. It also offers nine academic specializations, including Agribusiness Management, Soil Science, and Crop Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of his remarks, the Dean outlined the locations of the university’s major agricultural facilities. The fish farm is located at Site II, the poultry farm at Site I, while the piggery, cassava farm, and yam farm are situated at Site III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, these facilities are maintained to provide students with practical training while supporting agricultural research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond DELSU, Professor Ehimelu’s concerns echo those of other agricultural stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A livestock and poultry specialist, Dr. Jerome Unukevwere, said the long-term sustainability of Nigeria’s livestock industry depends on coordinated national reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, young people entering the sector require structured training to replace the aging workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also advocated expanded empowerment programmes that would provide farmers, especially new entrants, with funding and resources to establish sustainable agricultural enterprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Unukevwere further urged the government to implement consistent agricultural policies, warning that policy instability discourages long-term investment in livestock production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also called for increased public awareness of agriculture’s economic potential, saying it would attract more investment and strengthen the sector’s contribution to national development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry observers believe that implementing these recommendations, alongside institutional efforts such as those undertaken by DELSU, could significantly improve food security and agricultural productivity in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Oghenegare The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Delta State University (DELSU), Professor J.K. Ehimelu, has raised concerns over the growing challenges facing agriculture in Nigeria, describing them as “multi-dimensional” and rooted in both policy failures and natural factors. Speaking on the state of agriculture and the faculty’s contributions since its establishment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":12,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[31,635,66,634,25],"class_list":["post-2327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abrakametro","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-agricultural-faculty","tag-agriculture","tag-agro-in-abraka","tag-delsu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2329,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327\/revisions\/2329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}