The Kwara State government, in collaboration with the Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Acrid Landscapes (ACReSAL), yesterday flagged off the distribution of 14,180 economic tree seedlings to 255 schools across the state.
The selected schools received cocoa, cashew, oil palm, and orange tree seedlings.
At the event, the commissioner for Planning and Economic Development, Mrs. Mary Arinde, said the project would impact the schools in both educational and economic ways.
Arinde said that 80 primary schools, 170 secondary schools, and five tertiary institutions in the state were beneficiaries.
She said that the distribution of the seedlings underscored the initiative’s importance to stakeholders in the education and agricultural sectors.
“These orchards will not only teach students about crops and their products but also serve as research plantations for tertiary institutions beyond academics, and we give the local government chairmen a chance to pick two schools of their choice to benefit from the initiative”, she stated.
Arinde added that, in the long term, the initiative could become a source of revenue for schools, enabling them to invest in other agricultural ventures such as animal husbandry and fisheries.
She commended the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his commitment to food security, and praised the ACReSAL team for ensuring the delivery of the seedlings.
In his remarks, the commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Dr. Lawal Olohungbebe, emphasised the need to preserve trees planted in schools, noting that they play an essential role in protecting the learning environment.
