A final year student of Agriculture and Industrial Technology, Heman Gabriel Zakaria and a 400-level student of Mass Communication, Oluwatoyin Ajewole of Babcock University, Illishan Remo, Ogun State have emerged winners of the Nigeria Women in Agricultural Research for Development (NiWARD), Farmer of the year award for 2022 and second place trophy of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria’s Future Leader of Marketing award, respectively.
Zakaria, who shared the limelight with his supervisor and Head of Department, Dr. Bukola Osuntade, stood out for his performance and abstract presentation on the FILAI Method of Preservation; a simple and inexpensive way of keeping vegetables fresh without electricity.
Nine finalists emerged from the three categories online at the NIWARD Annual General Conference comprising: Intermediate (undergraduate or graduates), Advanced (Postgraduates, early to late career researcher) and Stakeholder (Agricultural practitioner).
Aside from these, a fourth category of the winner, the People’s Choice could be from any of the three top contestants.
Zakaria emerged as the top winner and the People’s Choice for which he clinched a cash price of a hundred thousand Naira, a plaque and the NiWARD farmer of the Year Award (NFA).
NiWARD is the Nigerian Chapter of the prestigious African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) which organized the contest during the maiden edition of its Farm to Mouth Agro-contest, August 1 – Nov 30, 2022.
The initiative is aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 of Zero Hunger in Nigeria through encouraging innovative research in Agriculture.
According to the President/Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ademola Tayo the administration is thrilled by the breakthrough.
“If implemented, the research innovation will certainly help to drive the much talked about food and agricultural revolution that the country is yearning for.”
In the same vein, an elated Miss Ajewole said she feels happy getting an award despite no monetary reward.
Moreover, she said she values it more, especially after failing to win anything in her first attempt the previous year.
“This award, has opened many opportunities for me already and I plan to do and achieve more mileage in the marketing space,” she said.
