The OCP Africa and BlackCountry Farms have been unveiled as the headline sponsors for Brightest National Agric Science Quiz Competition expected to debut across top television stations in Nigeria and Africa from April 6, 2024.
Brightest is termed the biggest and most engaging high school competition with special focus on food production, preservation, and technology.
According to the organisers, agriculture is the foundation for civilisation and a stable economy. “Industrial agricultural development in Africa has had very low offtake. For this to change positively, there is the need for Africa to start a deliberate agricultural revolution, which will invariably increase food production, processing and preservation using technology. This evolution, according to theorganisers, brought about the Brightest National Agric Science Competition.
The Brightest National Agric Science Quiz Contest 1.0 started in October 2023, with 16,039 students from 2,559 schools sitting for the national qualifying examination, an online series of tests conducted on the CruxCBT platform.
At the completion of the tests, 81 students from the six geo-political zones made the cut for the second phase of the competition where various amounts of university scholarships will be won by each of these students depending on their performance in the competition.
In his session, Head of Agronomy, Africa at OCP Group, Dr Donald Madueke, and Agronomy Service Officer, Ms. IfunanyaMeka, took the students on an interactive journey of food production titled “From farm to table; the journey of our food”, where he analyzed the food chain process from planting to human consumption using technology.
Madueke also emphasised on the symbiotic relationship between food, farmers and consumers.
In his words, “knowing where our food comes from helps us appreciate the complex stages of food production and the need for agricultural knowledge by all. The students, in groups of 10, were given an exercise to choose their best food and give a five-minute talk on the process of planting and harvesting.
Head, Strategy & Growth, CoS, BlackCountry Holdings, Alexis Udegbe, engaged the students on different technology and how it aids farming both in plants and animal rearing.
OlajumokeAdetola of Providus Bank lectured the students on “Financial Responsibility”.
