TITLE: “THE NATURAL TREASURES INHERENT IN SOIL: EXPLORE AND MANAGE IT FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, SUSTENANCE OF LIFE AND SURVIVAL OF MANKIND”
Prof. James A. Adediran, was born into a family who was into farming and as he grew up his interest was not in farming because of the nature of the job, but in electronics engineering. Having completed his school certificate education in 1973, and as destiny would make it, he was employed in the Kwara State Civil Service and deployed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources as Agricultural Assistant in Training. The Ministry further sponsored him to study general agriculture in the School of Agriculture where he graduated in December, 1975. Alas! this was how he found himself in the field of Agriculture – the first profession on earth established by our Creator. In this field, his persistence in the pursuit of excellence as Agricultural Extension Agent and ambition for higher education paved way for him in 1979 to win scholarship to study agriculture outside the shores of Nigeria. Nine years later he obtained his Ph.D and Postdoctoral Certificate and returned back home in October 1988.
On his return to Nigeria from Oversea studies in the far away USSR now Federal Republic of Russia, began his academic career in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife and was deployed to the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan in 1988 as a Youth Corps member. Since then, his carrier as Soil Scientist was carried out with deeper commitment including administrative responsibilities. It was a smooth but hard journey and through the grace of God and hard work he rose to the level of headship of the Institute. He was Head of Soil and Water Resources Management Programme between 1996 and 1999, Head of Land and Water Resources Management Programme – 2002 – 2006. and Head of Publication Unit and Editor-in-Chief of Moor Journal of Agricultural Research- 2010 – 2013; two-term Deputy Director of the Institute for four (4) years (2006-2010) and two-term Executive Director for six (6) years (2013-2019). After he completed his tenure as the Executive Director, his successor invited him to serve again in the capacity of Head of the Publication Unit and Editor-in-Chief of Moor Journal (2019 – till date) now three years on. This means that he was in the Institute management system for about 23 years. This gave him the opportunity to be in the position to x-ray the Institute’s administration as a whole along his area of specialization.
