Why I Deserve a Scholarship in Agriculture

“How to write a scholarship essay about why you deserve it” - in this paper I will share my story and arguments why I need my scholarship in agriculture. Before I gained admission into college, my father as a peasant farmer took me to his farm every day. Working on the fields where crops like watermelon, yam, cassava, corn, plantain, banana, cocoa, cashew, carrot, and lettuce were planted, I marveled at insects that ravaged these crops. Several tonnes of the harvest was lost mostly from pest infestation on the farm. Therefore, I decided to look for lasting solutions to this long-term negative consequence of pests and other negative influences on crops by studying Crop Production and Protection. 

I learnt from my studies and practical experience that the major problem that most poor rural farmers in Nigeria face is the control of numerous pests which makes many of them rely unhealthily and heavily on very expensive chemicals. In fact, from a national survey in that year, a lot of them died as a result of abuse, and misuse of synthetic insecticides. For this reason, my final year project objectives focused on minimizing the infestation of the flea beetles on okra (a staple vegetable crop in Nigeria) using cultural control methods to avoid insecticide use and produce maximum crop yield. This research brought about a better method, apart from chemical insecticides, in minimizing the flea beetle population. Intercropping of okra with kenaf was, therefore, seen as an option that fits well into the non-pesticide management of flea beetles which is beneficial to subsistence farmers who usually practice intercropping, as it would help reduce their cultivation costs to the barest minimum and avoid excessive dependency on synthetic agrochemicals. Despite numerous challenges encountered during this research, these findings were published in an internationally peer-reviewed journal. 

Upon graduation, I decided to work for a year and take loans in order to start a master degree in Crop Production and Protection in 2016. That year, I started with a meagre amount to pay for the part payment only. Coincidentally that year, there was an outbreak of the Fall Armyworm in my country Nigeria that affected over 22 states and other West African countries. I saw a problem that needed an urgent solution, so I focused my research on the study of the ecology and biological control of the fall armyworm. This research was hampered by lack of adequate facilities and the industrial action of non-academic staff union that initiated a total power cut. I lost all my experimental specimen due to this. Despite all these myriads of challenges, I was able to find out an opportunistic entomopathogen (Fusarium tricinctum) against the corn stem borer. 

My passion to explore all the possible solutions to pest problem for sustainable agriculture led me to seek for abroad opportunities where I can lay hands on research tools and facilities. These will arm me with adequate knowledge to come back to Nigeria to establish a channel of food sustainability. Within an essay about why you deserve a scholarship I want to mention that you are not just helping me get through graduate school but you are improving the quality of life of over 50 million of rural farmers in Nigeria. I appreciate your consideration.  

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm,” Winston Churchill once said. The reason why I don’t define my obstacles as ‘failures,’ is that I record all my success with my continuous optimism and perseverance through life’s adversity and storms. I have faced several challenges over the years, from poverty to lack of access to infrastructure; yet I continued to earn exemplary grades, graduated at the top of my class and made a scientific discovery. In conclusion to an essay about why I deserve a scholarship, I believe that I deserve the Marshal Papworth scholarship because I have the courage, persistence, and determination to achieve my goals, no matter what hurdles I have to overcome. I believe that one day I will have an opportunity to study at California Institute of Technology. All through my undergraduate study, I was self-sponsored. My parents, due to their meagre earnings could not sponsor my university education, but this did not deter me from pursuing my goals. During the summer, I took students in secondary school private lessons from 8 am to 10 pm six days a week so that I can have enough money to pay my tuition. That is all, thank you fir reading this “Why I deserve this scholarship” essay example!