Nigeria has lost opportunities in its agricultural exports drive- Minister
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, has said the country had lost huge opportunities in its agricultural exports drive as a result of lack of extension workers to educate and guide export activities.
Alhaji Sabo Nanono disclosed this during the opening of a training workshop for extension services agents in the 36 States of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) held in Abuja, he minister argued that these problems wouldn’t have arose, if there were extension workers to guide the farmers.
He pointed out that for local commodity crops including sesame seeds, herbiscus, soybeans and cassava among several others, to have meaningful export market, extension services must become a priority for the government and private sector.
The minister stated that over the years, extension work had been extremely useful in guiding farmers on how to plant, apply fertilizer, weed as well as time to harvest.
However, he said this important segment of agriculture had been relegated to the extent that extension workers are currently absent in some states.
However, he said the government had embarked on a programme to increase its extension workers to 75,000 within the next to three years.
He said:”The implications of this is that we are way behind the average of our farmers to an extension worker even our neighbours have gone far ahead of us.
He added that to achieve meaningful mechanisation,the country required extension workers who are capable of delivering results.
He said the government will continue to push towards repositioning extension services, “untill we achieve our target of 75,000 extension workers over a period of three years.”
He said about 45,000 extension workers consisting government and the private sectors are currently available.
He said the way forward for the country was for the youths to make sacrifice to embrace agriculture while the government must also empower them into agriculture.
MTO/Thisday
