By Muhammad Amaan
The Federal Government of Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness in repositioning Nigeria`s agriculture sector.
President Bola Tinubu stated this at the 6th Africa Wide Agricultural Extension Week (AAEW) on Monday in Abuja.
The President was represented by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi.
Tinubu said that the Federal Government recognised the huge potential of agriculture as a key sector in driving the nation’s economy.
The theme of the conference is: Harnessing Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services in Scaling Regenerative Agriculture and Nature Based Solutions for Food System Transformation in Africa.
The president said it was reassuring and pleasing that the present Federal Government recognised the huge potentials of agriculture as a key sector in driving the nation’s economy.
“It is against this background that the present administration is pursuing an 8-point agenda which include food security; poverty eradication; growth, job creation and access to capital amongst others.
“The Federal Government seeks to restructure the economy from unnecessary borrowing to finance government programme as well as create jobs, achieve economic growth, “prosperity for all,” and end poverty.
“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,” he said.
He said that certified inputs such as improved seeds and organic and inorganic fertilizers and irrigation equipment will be provided at highly subsidised prices to enhance their production.
President Tinubu said that agricultural extension plays a critical role in bringing relevant and improved technologies developed by National Agricultural Research Institutions (NARIs).
He said to strengthen agricultural extension delivery services in Nigeria, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had put together the first ever Harmonized Extension Manual in Nigeria and National Agricultural Extension Policy.
Tinubu said that the manual focuses on how to effectively disseminate and deploy agricultural innovation/technologies to end users using appropriate extension methods.
“The manual will be of great benefit to extension administrators, Subject Matter Specialists, Extension agents as well as farmers along the agricultural value chains,” he said.
He said that the policy seeks to provide a pragmatic, effective and efficient demand driven plurastic, ICT-enabled and market-oriented extension service to all stakeholders.
These according to him included youths, women, and people with special needs to optimally use resources to promote sustainable agriculture and socio-economic development of the country.
