EPSL is a firm of registered Builders, Quantity Surveyors, Project Managers and Sustainable Agricultural Technology experts. Our vision is to transform the quality of life of people globally by providing innovative services in agriculture, built environment, renewable energy and human capital development aimed at improving people and project performance. EPSL provides competitively priced services tailored to the client’s requirements but with the benefit of specialist knowledge and experience.
EPSL
Dr. Mrs. Elizabeth Bola Ogunlana – Director and CEO
Dr. Mrs. Elizabeth Bola Ogunlana’s PhD research is on organic farming with a focus on alley farming. Her education and training have given her opportunities in contributing to improving the livelihood of farmers. She believes the rural communities as the suppliers of the resources needed to sustain life in urban and rural areas need to be developed and that research and development holds the key to the transformation of rural communities.
She is of the opinion that the sustainability of developmental projects is very important. Despite the urgent need for agricultural technologies that could increase farm productivity, she is concerned about the impact of such technologies on the environment. Development and environmental protection should be seen as two sides of the same coin, and her goal is to encourage farmers to utilize environmentally sustainable agricultural technologies that could increase agricultural productivity. Her career has been dedicated to contributing to research and development and the extension of sustainable technologies to rural communities.
Through God’s help, she has participated in highly successful internationally funded research projects before. As the Senior Research Specialist at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, she pioneered the extension of alley farming technology – an organic farming technology for crops and livestock production – to farmers in Uthaithani province in Thailand. She prepared the research proposal and research reports for sponsors and evaluators. She taught farmers how to establish alley farms. The purpose of the research was to develop the rural area; specifically to help the rural farmers increase their agricultural production by utilizing alley farming – an organic farming technology with low input. The technology would improve their quality of life, contribute to poverty alleviation and enhance environmental preservation. The research was funded by Royal Thai Government.
She conducted a research on the adoption of alley farming by rural women farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria. The output of her research shows that Yoruba women farmers contribute substantially to agricultural production and family income. She suggested that researchers should focus on ‘needs identification’, (i.e. researchers recognise women farmers’ ‘felt needs’) which could enhance farmers’ adoption of sustainable technologies, increase agricultural productivity and thereby improve farmers’ quality of life.
She participated in training courses on Extension Methods and Training Skills jointly organized by FAO, FMAWR and the Research and Development Unit of Obafemi Awolowo University’s Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Nigeria. She was a resource person in the training course on “Gender and Development” conducted by the Continuing Education Center (CEC), Asian Institute of Technology.
At the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, she was employed to coordinate the preparation of the ‘Greening of AIT’ project proposal submitted to DANIDA. The foregoing, together with her PhD research work, has given her the opportunity to participate in the development of the rural areas.
Dr. Elizabeth Bola Ogunlana has published papers in international journals and also participated in international conferences. Alley farming and rural development have been the major focus of her work.
She has a good understanding of sustainable agricultural technologies, the problems of the rural areas, rural and regional development issues, modern thinking in rural development, poverty alleviation, women in agriculture, entrepreneurship among farmers, gender and development, agricultural innovation adoption, grassroots participation, empowerment and excellent preparation in team working techniques. She has been a member in several national and international teams and has come to appreciate the synergy that can be derived through diversity in the workplace. She is a member of the Balerno Village Trust. Balerno Village Trust focuses on sustainability, community development, education and health and funds other local people to do the same.