President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that his administration will engage demand-driven agricultural research and adoptable technology for enhanced productivity in the sector.
The President who spoke through Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security on Monday while declaring the 6th Africa-Wide Agricultural Extension Week open in Abuja, said Nigeria current plan is to achieve self-sufficiency in food production and reduce dependency on food imports.
He also launched the first ever Harmonized Extension Manual in Nigeria and National Agricultural Extension Policy. He stressed that farmers require simple technologies that are available, accessible and affordable to increase their productivity.
“The idea behind sitting down and coming up with theoretical frameworks don’t work any longer. What farmers need now is simple technologies that are available in multiple channels.
“The moment this is not happening, you are not making any impact. With the challenge of climate change, the extension service, advisory services must focus on efficiency of available resources, we cannot afford to have people who will be wasteful.
According to Tinubu,; “agriculture must be market oriented and move away from the subsistence farming been practiced by our smallholders farmers.
“In achieving this the government has come up with programmes such as National Agriculture Growth Scheme-Agro-pocket where millions of farmers are supported through training on Good Agricultural Practices, Certified inputs such as improved seeds and organic and inorganic fertilizers and irrigation equipment at highly subsidized prices to enhance their production, increase productivity and ultimately higher incomes to the farmers.”
President Tinubu said his government recognizes the huge potentials of agriculture as a key sector in driving the nation’s economy and as a tool to fight unemployment, hunger and poverty.
” Agricultural extension plays a critical role in bringing relevant and improved technologies developed by National Agricultural Research Institutions (NARIs), inputs suppliers and marketers to farmers.
“The Harmonized Extension Manual focuses on how to effectively disseminate and deploy agricultural innovations/technologies to end-users using appropriate extension methods.
“Resolve is to develop the agricultural sector towards the attainment of the objectives of SDGs especially those of zero hunger and to improve agriculture and rural productivity, ” he stressed.