A lecturer at the Department of Agronomy, Osun State University, Osogbo, Prof. Clement Adebooye, has said the research team which received a grant of $4.45m from Canada's International Development and Research Centre will train 50,000 farmers new methods of producing vegetables.

Adebooye said this on the sidelines of a workshop organised by the research consortium for some of the farmers in Osogbo on Monday.

The don explained that the IDRC and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada provided a grant to a multi-disciplinary research team led by the Osun State University with Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Université de Parakou in Benin Republic and Canada's University of Saskatchewan and University of Manitoba to develop indigenous vegetable production in westerner states in Nigeria and Benin Republic.

According to him, the farmers will be taught how to reduce the quantity of fertiliser in order to increase their yield.

He added that the training would have a spiral effect, targeting about one million households in the two countries.

He said, "The research team will work to expand novel farming practices to 50,000 farmers and promote demand through indigenous vegetable production and value addition technology. The project will involve innovative farming techniques research, training of farmers and value addition technology.

"This project will be implemented in Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos States in southwest Nigeria and Benin Republic.