Three Alumni of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA have been named among the 10 winners of the 2019 Borlaug-Adesina Foundation Fellowship under the aegis of the current President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina’s World Food Prize Foundation.
The three FUTA Alumni winners are Emmanuel Maduka who graduated with a first class in Agricultural Extension and communication Technology, in 2018, Olufemi Adesina, who also graduated with a first class in Agricultural Extension and communication Technology in 2017 and John Agboola who graduated with a degree in Agricultural Extension and Economics in 2015.
Other 2109 fellows are Ife omotayo from Nigeria, Nicholas Alifa from Nigeria, Victor Mugo from Kenya, Adonai Da Matha San’tana from Benin republic, Lourena Arone Maxwell from Mozambique, Marriane Enow Tabi from Cameroun and Solomon A Nimako
In 2017 Dr Akinwumi Adesina won the World Food Prize of $250,000USD and announced that he would donate the money to a foundation and set up a structure to support young people in agriculture. He also won the Sunhak prize for peace of $500,000USD which he also donated to the same cause.
That decision gave birth to the World Hunger Fighters Foundation and in partnership with the World Food Prize Foundation, USA, established the Borlaug-Adesina Foundation Fellowship as a year-long Fellowship Program, presenting an unparalleled opportunity to outstanding African youths between the ages of 21 and 30 years old.
The foundation was thus founded on the fundamental need to support the next generation of Agricultural entrepreneurs. As a flagship program, the Borlaug-Adesina Foundation Fellowship was initiated to carry on the vision of Dr Adesina’s mentor Norman Borlaug and foster a food secure Africa through the action of young people in the African agricultural space.
1312 applications were received from 39 countries across 5 regions for the 2019 fellowship. From this lot, the 10 exceptional individuals who won the 2019 fellowships were selected.
Borlaug-Adesina Fellows were announced at the annual World Food Prize Dialogues in Iowa, USA on the 17th of October 2019. The Fellows will be provided with opportunities to gain exposure and experience at any of the International Agricultural Research Centers around the world, or with a select number of global food and agribusiness companies.
The Vice Chancellor of FUTA, Professor Joseph Fuwape, has described the feat of the three alumni, Emmanuel Maduka, Olufemi Adesina, and John Agboola as commendable saying it has once again demonstrated the excellence of the graduates of the institution and their capacity to compete with their peers and hold their own at the national and global levels.
