A professor at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Emmanuel Fakoya, has announced a ₦1 million annual prize for the institution’s best Farm Practical Year student in honour of his late father, Pa Samuel Fakoya.

Fakoya, who is also the Dean of the College of Management and Rural Development, disclosed this during the university’s 110th inaugural lecture titled “Measurement and Scaling: Bedrock of Robust Agricultural Extension Research Analysis.”

According to him, the prize will run for 10 years, starting from the university’s 34th convocation, and is designed to promote excellence in hands-on agricultural training while motivating students enrolled in the Farm Practical Year Programme.

During the lecture, Fakoya called for a shift in Nigeria’s agricultural policy formulation, urging that interventions be grounded in empirical evidence rather than anecdotal reports. He noted that sectors such as land management, livestock production, conflict resolution, and women’s empowerment require standardised measurement frameworks for sustainable impact.

He also advocated multidisciplinary collaboration and the establishment of specialised centres focused on measurement and scaling studies, recommending advanced quantitative tools to strengthen agricultural extension research.

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Babatunde Kehinde, commended Fakoya’s contributions, describing the lecture as timely and significant to Nigeria’s agricultural transformation agenda.