Nigerian Government Restores Agriculture Development Programmes

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar says restoring Agriculture Development Programmes, ADPs is top priority in achieving the mandate of food security in Nigeria.

The Minister stated this at a two-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the Nasarawa State Agriculture and water resources Ministry.

The workshop is aimed at strengthening the ADPs for effective agriculture extension service delivery at the grassroots.

The Minister said that a Special Committee was instituted to review the Agriculture Extension Policy.

According to him, the committee will recommend policies that will ensure the effective participation of all stakeholders with funding for effective delivery of agriculture extension advisory services.

“A blueprint was developed for the revitalisation of agriculture extension in Nigeria including recommendations on various funding mechanisms.

“A provision of institutional structures and arrangements for the delivery of effective and efficient pluralistic agriculture extension and advisory services in Nigeria using the value chain approach was provided,” Abubakar noted.

The Minister further urged the participant to assess the status of the National Agriculture Extension System, particularly coordinating activity at the Federal level.

Speaking at the workshop, the Nasarawa state Governor, Abdullahi Sule lauded the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for conceiving the idea of the workshop.

Governor Sule said the workshop would broaden the scope of frontline extension agents on good agriculture practices and dissemination of vital information to smallholder farmers for effective and efficient service delivery.

Sule said “As you are all aware, agriculture is the mainstay of the Nigeria economy and constitutes the largest percentage of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), being the major employer of labor.

“Nigeria is one of the countries that is endowed with enormous agricultural potentials and arable land suitable for the cultivation of food and cash crops. It is for this reason that more Nigerians are daily getting involved in one kind of agricultural activity or the other.”

The governor said that it is imperative to state that the importance of extension services in helping smallholder farmers cannot be over-emphasised, given the capacity of the agriculture extension agents to assist teeming farmers at the grassroots in managing the challenges of climate change and technological advancement in the country.

“The Agriculture Development Project is a World Bank project, designed to reduce rural poverty and improves agricultural production through a community-based approach. This is why Government at all levels has continued to champion the project as a way of sustaining what was hitherto put in place by the Donor Agencies, given its importance and associated benefits to socio-economic developmen.

“As a result of dependency on oil being the major source of revenue for the nation’s economy, the government is not unaware of the neglect the Agriculture Extension Agents suffered over time, that is why various policies have been put in place to resuscitate and strengthen the ADPs as a parastatal, responsible for transforming the policies of Government into reality to drive the diversification of the economy.,” he explained.

Also speaking, the Nasarawa state commissioner of Agriculture and water resources, Honourable Nuhu Oshafu said that partnering in Agriculture has become expedient in the lives of everyone not because it is the mainstay of the economy but because every one depends on all facets of agriculture for survival.

Osha further urged the participant to be attentive so that lesson learned would be of benefit not only to them but should be translated to those farmers they represent.

Confidence Okwuchi