Barring any unforeseen hazard, the University of Nigeria will by December start the supply of ginger to McCormick Company, a major producer of spices, flavouring and herbs in the United States of America, the Vice-Chancellor Prof Benjamin Ozumba has revealed.

Ozumba made the disclosure recently while inspecting over five hectares of ginger farm planted in April at the Nsukka campus of University.

“We have signed Memorandum of Understanding with McCormic Company to off-take any quantity of ginger we produce,” the Vice-Chancellor said, adding that the farm was a pilot study for a large scale ginger production by the university.

The initiative, according to the Vice-Chancellor, was facilitated by alumni of the University based in the United States of America with the intention of providing good teaching point for students and revenue to the institution.

He said the farm was established for the purpose of research, teaching and agribusiness in line with the land-grant mandate of the institution. “As a land-grant university, agriculture is one of our strong points,” Ozumba said.

Besides the ginger farm, the Vice-Chancellor said his administration had also invested in other aspects of agriculture including pepper farm, cattle fattening and ranching, snail farming and poultry farming.

He said the university was making arrangement to bring in 300 dairy cows with robotic milking from Michigan State University before the end of 2018 to start milk production in the university.

“We want our students to know that there is money in agriculture,” the Vice-Chancellor said.

Under Ozumba’s administration, all moribund farms in the university have been revived, including the establishment of feed mills, cassava floor processing plants and the building of green houses.

•Photo shows UNN VC, Prof Benjamin Ozumba (middle), flanked by the farm Manager, Prof Michael Uguru and Prof Obi Njoku at the Ginger Farm