An old boy of St. Francis College Otukpo, who wants to remain anonymous, has sponsored the upgrade of the college’s orchard with a view to bring back the glory days of the 1970s and 80s, when the orchard was a beautiful green scenery of different trees with fresh fruits.
The orchard upgrade project is being executed in two (2) phases, with the first phase being the fencing of 50m x 130m (164’ x 427’) plot of land. The materials for the fence (wire mesh, barbed wire, binding wire and 64-off pipe poles of 13’ length & 2.5” thickness), were delivered to the college on Monday 11th December 2023. The erection of the fence commenced a week later on Monday 18th December 2023 and was completed on Thursday 21st December 2023.
The second phase of the project, which is the planting of mango (Julie & Dosha varieties) and orange (Washington Naval & Ibadan Sweet varieties) seedlings, is yet to commence based on the recommendation of seasoned orchardists, who have advised that the college should only plant the seedlings after the orchard has experienced two (2) heavy rainfalls. The belief is that this will provide the fruits with a good head start leading to shorter maturing rate and early fruit production.
Here is a photo from the erection of the fence. More pictures are available in the Donations & Projects gallery page.
News Comments1
Gratitude