As part of efforts aimed at contributing its quota to ensure food security in the country, the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), has taken steps to scale up the production of F1 Bell Peppers.
This move is in continuation of the scaling up process the institution started a few years ago, following the increasing demand, identified health and nutritional advantage of the pepper variety.
Receiving the freshly harvested peppers from a team from the University’s Vegetable Production Centre, led by Professor Ayoola Olalusi of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji expressed delight in the scaling up process through the green house technology of the University.
According to her: “We are building more greenhouses soon, taking it from one to six before the end of the year. This is because we also want to ensure that those who want to be trained in its production have ample places and also because of increasing demand. The market is waiting for us.
“We have increased demands of the product all over the country and we cannot afford to disappoint our clients. FUTA is not paying lip service to food security and we are ready to partner with governments and organisations to make this readily available at affordable prices. I know this pepper is a value addition to the common ones we have around. We can even take it global through exportation as we progress.”
While presenting the pepper, Professor Olalusi said “We are here to present our new harvest to madam Vice Chancellor and to inform her that this product is in high demand in the market. With the promise to increase the house to six, I can boldly say that we are ready to further meet the market needs with the products, which comes in Green, Yellow and Red colours.”
Currently, the Bell Peeper produced in FUTA is in high demand in Lagos and Ibadan with some of the vendors pre-booking it before harvest. The university says it will explore partnership with relevant agencies and firms to boost production for local consumption while export is also under consideration.
The vegetable production centre of FUTA, according to Professor Olalusi is ready to guide interested farmers through the process of planting and nurturing the F1 specie of Bell pepper, which has a lot of advantages over the traditional ones.
Professor Olalusi described the F1 Bell pepper as an early ripening hybrid variety with a bushy plant that does not require staking. He said the advantageous features include a high level of resistance to diseases, vigorous and strong plant, sweet flavor, and the fruit size is about 10-11cm width by 11-12 cm length, while it weighs between 250-280g.
He added that the uniqueness of the F1 Bell pepper is that it can only be propagated in a greenhouse and FUTA is willing to take on the responsibility of guiding interested individuals and farmers through the process of greenhouse cultivation either on a small scale or large-scale basis.
The Don said the University would however, continue the cultivation in its greenhouse to make the pepper available for its immediate environment and would be ready to explore partnership for large scale production that could translate into major revenue generating stream for FUTA and potential partners.
