Tag: Agric

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have intensified efforts towards pushing for an Agricultural Extension Service Delivery Revitalisation Bill.

Speaking at the multi-stakeholder meeting on Revised Draft Agricultural Extension Service Delivery Revitalisation Bill, Executive Director of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) ICON2 Project, Hajiya Salamatu Garba, noted that the bill is expected to identify areas that Nigeria can bridge food security in order to feed the growing population.

 Garba said the government approved the agricultural policy which gave an opportunity to WOFAN being funded by MasterCard foundation to follow up to address the challenges of agricultural extension services.

 Noting that the Federal Government approved the  policy which has been on the table for quite some time, she said it was an opportunity for WOFAN being funded by MasterCard Foundation to follow it up as they are working with farmers and extension workers.

She said; ‘’One of the problems of agricultural activities in Nigeria is not having capable extension workers.

 “So, they need to be supported and this, and this policy if translated into a bill and later to an Act, is going to help us identify areas that we need to bridge food security in Nigeria.

 “Like you know, agriculture is the backbone in the economic growth of any country. In Nigeria, to be able to meet the food needs of this nation that is growing by the day, it is very important that we put agriculture at the centre’’.

 Furthermore, she said the policy will promote the adoption of technology in extension services targeted at addressing the challenges of health, insecurity and other challenges.

Executive Director, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS),   Professor Ikani Emmanuel, said the Bill will address some of the challenges facing the extension services such as funding and coordination of the system.

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 “Extension services are actually a game changer if you want to move from traditional crude agriculture to modern agriculture.

 “Up till now, extension practices used to be rowdy, it is not coordinated, this policy will solve that problem. Funding extension services has been a problem, we want to see a situation where we will have a national committee that will be in charge of implementing this policy.

 The Board Chairman of Technical Board of Advisers of WOFAN ICON 2 project, Professor Sani Miko noted that the policy accommodated private sector involvement in extension services.

 While noting that the public sector cannot effectively run extension services, Professor Miko said for sustainability purposes, the private sector must have a key role in extension service delivery.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) have announced that they will collaborate on several projects to boost agricultural productivity.

This followed a meeting in Abuja yesterday at NIRSAL Plc headquarters, between the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof Charles Anosike, and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIRSAL, Abbas Umar Masanawa.

Anosike said: “The urgency of climate action requires that critical stakeholders collaborate, invest in preparedness and ensure that smallholder farmers are protected by early warnings of climate disaster. NiMet is keen on exploring opportunities for both NiMet and NIRSAL to partner in de-risking agriculture.

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With the work that NiMet does and the data it generates on a daily basis, this will help farmers to plan effectively and efficiently.

 “Climate change impacts greatly on farming activities and agricultural yield, hence the need for data-driven farming operations. This will help to de-risk the agricultural value chain.”

While welcoming NiMet, the Managing Director/CEO, Abbas Umar Masanawa,  said  NiMet has done well over the years not only in the aviation sector but also in the other economic sectors including agriculture.

 “The DG/CEO of NiMet, Prof Anosike and his team has been doing very well not only in aviation but in agriculture as well. NIRSAL is interested in collaborating with them to support small holder farmers for increased productivity. This is in line with NIRSAL’s mandate,” he said.

Masanawa said collaborating with NiMet is critical as the focus will be on increasing primary production. “This will be beneficial to all as the farmers are the ones that are most vulnerable. We are also happy that NiMeT downscales its weather and climate data and information in different local Nigerian languages for wider reach and understanding,” he added.

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University has released more than 200 crop varieties to boost food in its 100 years of existence.

These included 21 improved varieties of  cowpea 29 groundnut, 69 maize, 56 sorghum, four sunflower, 17 cotton, seven millet, five wheat, 12 tomato, three  soyabean, two sesame and oats.

A statement issued by the Director, Public Affairs Directorate, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), Auwalu Umar said the effort has been steady.

According to him, the, national potential yield of maize has increased from less than 2tonne (t)/hectare (ha) to up to 9t/ha, sorghum from less than 1t/ha to 2.5t/ha, and cowpea 0.5t/ha to 2.7t/ha.

The statement said some of the institute’s technologies have been put into use by farmers in West and Central Africa sub-regions. For instance, the statement said its groundnut and cowpea varieties are widely grown by farmers across Niger Republic, Mali, and Cameroon.

He listed that  the institute’s other technologies include improved irrigation approaches for economising water in dry season production, as well as selection of suitable crops and their varieties for irrigation. This is beside the investment in research to develop new food products suitable for today’s consumer preferences.

Having attained 100 years of existence as a foremost and formidable research institute, he said IAR  will focus on developing and promoting climate-smart agricultural practices that can enhance resilience to climate change.

It said: “Research efforts can also be directed towards developing food and drought-tolerant crop varieties, sustainable management techniques and climate-resilient farming systems. The institute must embrace emerging digital technologies such as precision agriculture, remote sensing, and data analytics which can revolutionize farming practices. It can explore the use of these technologies to optimize resource use, improve crop monitoring and enhance decision-making for farmers. Equally, IAR can play a key role in strengthening agricultural value chains by focusing on post-harvest value chains by focusing on post-harvest management, processing and market linkages. And research can be conducted to develop efficient storage and processing techniques, promote value-added products and facilitate market access for farmers.”

To celebrate its 100 years, the Director, Public Affairs Directorate, ABU, SAID  institute held  a public lecture, book launch, awards presentation ceremony. Highpoint of the celebrations was the awards presentation of a posthumous award to the Principal Private Secretary to the Premier of Northern Nigeria Sir Ahmadu Bello, Alhaji Hassan Lemu, for vehemently supporting the transfer or affiliation of all research institutes in the North to the newly established University of the North, later called Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

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Lemu argued that staff availability, teaching, and research needs of both the institute staff and students would be better taken care of. This was against the wish of the British colonialists who argued that the affiliation would be counterproductive by derailing the vision of the institute and creating bureaucratic bottleneck, as well as underfunding which could impair its smooth functions.

The centenary lecture, ‘Agricultural Research, Technology and Innovation as Catalysts for National Development: Impact on Poverty, Food and Economy Security in Nigeria in the 21st Century”, was given by former Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, and Secretary to the Borno State Government, Malam Bukar Tijjani. The lecture dwelled on the pivotal role that the agricultural research, technology, and innovation played in Nigeria’s social, economic, and political landscape.

The minister, particularly, acknowledged the central role played by IAR in alleviating poverty, especially in its original mandate in the Savannah ecology which covers Nigeria’s approximately 600,000 square kilometers out of the 924,000 square kilometers of total land area. He clearly pointed out that the institute had ensured food security, nutrition for all, and strengthened Nigeria’s economic growth and agricultural development at the early stages of its establishment and well into the 1970s.

The Vice-Chancellor, ABU, Prof. Kabiru Bala, commended the IAR’s outgoing Executive Director, Prof. Muhammad Faguji Ishiyaku and other management staff of the institute for the remarkable organisation of the centenary celebrations in the face of scarcity of funds. Bala, who noted that the history of ABU would be incomplete without IAR, urged the Federal Government to adopt the IAR and ABU Faculty of Agriculture model of research and teaching by introducing the research and teaching component to all tertiary institutions, especially the universities, for effective learning by students.