A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, at the University of Ilorin, Prof. Kayode Ayorinde, on Tuesday expressed concerns over plans by the Federal Government to import grass seedlings from Brazil. The grass seedlings are for the proposed grazing reserves across the country.

Ayorinde told newsmen in Ilorin that the task of growing high-valued grasses should be left to agricultural research institutes and universities in the country. He said that doing otherwise could create additional burden on the agricultural sector, adding, that would not be in the best interest of the country. Ayorinde, an expert in Crop Protection, however, endorsed the plan to establish grazing reserves across the country, describing it as "a step in the right direction".

"The government should look for ways of producing these grasses locally. "We have many research institutes and we have many universities that we can give that burden to, so, I don't think it is the best to be importing grass seedlings," he said. According to Ayorinde, patronising and supporting the agriculture research institutes in the country will boost research and enhance local production "rather than taking our resources to international importation." He also called on the Federal Government to empower small scale farmers as part of measures to enhance food security in the country.

He said: "Unless we go back to the land, that is when we can be food secure; we have to produce the food on our own, and it entails us providing the input to the farmers. "Encourage the peasant farmers who are into subsistence farming by supplying them with seeds, fertilizers and storage systems and, if possible, a kind of buying back of their harvested products. " I am not saying the Federal Government should not encourage the big farmers but the peasant farmers need these resources more," he said.

He said that after the government would have bought those products from the peasant farmers, they, in turn, would have money to produce more. "Until we are able to produce locally, we cannot be food secure. "As long as we depend on importation from other countries to assist us, we are not just being food secure, we are also not secure politically," he said.