Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content and the Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, Senator Teslim Folarin Tuesday said crude oil is already failing Nigeria. Speaking at a 2-day intensive training he organised for pig farmers in Akinyele local government area of the state held at Kaybeetel Event Centre, Moniya, Ibadan, Senator Folarin stated that agriculture now remains the better option as main stay of Nigeria economy .
He said that it is now time to be working towards promoting agriculture adding that this necessitated his decision to empower his constituents with modern innovations in agriculture.
Senator Folarin said the gesture will go a long way in reducing unemployment rate and contribute to food security in Oyo state and Nigeria in general adding, the training was in line with his electoral promises to ensure that youth are meaningfully empowered and contribute towards food security in the state.
He added that he had organised two different trainings on agriculture in November as part of his effort to empower the youth and women in his senatorial district.
“In November alone, I have facilitated two unique empowerment trainings vis-à-vis: 3-day training on provision and adoption of post-harvest techniques for young farmers in Oyo federal constituency of the district and the latest one is training of selected young farmers in Akinyele on how best they can practice and embrace Artificial Insemination (AI) in pigs. Soon, other council areas of the Senatorial District would be given similar opportunities,” he said.
The chairman Senate Committee on local content however tasked the trainees to transfer knowledge acquired to other pig farmers as the use of Artificial Insemination (AI) has been of enormous economic benefit for dairy farmers in many countries.
A resource person from IAR&T, Dr. Olorungbohunmi Temilolo, told the trainees that the Artificial Insemination involves “the synchronization of an animal to come on heat using estrogen and progesterone”.
Dr Temilomo said semen from proven boars is then introduced to cause fertilisation in the synchronised sows, adding, ” the semen produced for artificial insemination (AI) should be free of contagious organisms, be of high quality, have good storage properties, fertilising capacity and be of high genetic value.”
“The best approach to prevent the spread of microorganisms via semen in the process of AI is to collect semen from boars free from specific diseases, for example: pseudorabies virus or leptospirosis. Antibiotics are added to the semen to suppress proliferation of microorganisms or even reduce their number. Sperm production is influenced by many factors such as season, collection frequency, breed and age,” she said.
