FAO train 51 innovation facilitators in North-East Nigeria
The Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) is training 51 facilitators of the Farmers’ Field School (FFS) in the North-east zone Nigeria.
According to the organization, the training of facilitators was to build their capacity to facilitate innovations in the agricultural sector of economy.
He said that the training and capacity building of farmers were funded by the Norwegian Government.
Declaring the training open in Maiduguri Nigeria, the Head of FAO, Northeast Office, Al Hassan Cissie, said: “FFS is a participatory approach in providing skills to farmers.”
“The school is a platform for an enabling environment where farmers can meet and exchange ideas to bring innovations in the agricultural sector.”
He said the innovations comprised farm management, good practices in agriculture, livestock and fisheries in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Sokoto and Yobe states.
Besides, he added that the three-week training was to complement extension services, which had been disrupted. He explained that it’s an interactive and participatory learning-by-doing approach among farmers/pastoralists in their communities.
“The FFS activities are anchored on non-formal adult education approach,” said Cissie. This, according to him, would enable learning through direct experience with the integration of scientific insights into local knowledge systems.
The support, according to him, included improved seeds and fertilizer during the rainy season.
On the impacts of climate change, Cissie said: “With the development of climate-smart agriculture profile, we’re moving now to the next levels of developing agriculture investment plans.”
He, therefore, urged the state governments and partners to institutionalize climate-smart agricultural practices among farmers.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Bulama Gana, said farmers’ field school is a new innovation based on field observations and testing of possible solutions.
He noted that these were how farmers could adopt the most suitable practices in the farming systems.
The Guardian
