Emmanuel Alanana, chairman, Forum of Agricultural Development Programme Managers in Nigeria (ADPMN), has called for a return to agric extension delivery system to curb the food crisis and hunger in the country.
He said that the dearth of Agricultural Extension Delivery System and inconsistency in policy formulation on agriculture were to blame for the current food crisis and hunger Nigerians are currently experiencing.
Alanana spoke on the current situation with journalists in Lafia, Nasarawa State and expressed worries that the government at all levels paid little or no attention to the sector over the years.
He said that the forum was now working to achieve the revitalisation of Agricultural Extension Delivery system in Nigeria to save the country from its present crisis.
He also said that already, the forum had already sent a bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage to give legal backing to the revitalisation of the agriculture extension delivery system abandoned decades ago as one sure way to achieve food sufficiency in Nigeria.
He disclosed that measures were being put in place to address the food crisis and hunger in the country.
Alanana, who is the manager, Nasarawa State Agricultural Development Programme, explained that the bill when passed and assented to by the President would open up more windows for agricultural activities, encourage farmers to return to farms and increase food production.
He further announced plans by the forum to establish an extension trust fund to energise the revitalisation of the system that would also raise all all-year farming system.
“We have held strategic high-level meetings with Commissioners of agriculture, and permanent secretaries in the Ministry of Agriculture in the 36 states of the federation.
“The next level of the meeting will be with the governors in order for them to buy into the revitalisation policy.
“We must go back to agriculture not just agriculture, but to embrace the extension delivery system to guarantee good security.
“Extension Revitalisation policy will not only address the crisis of food insufficiency but provide the essentials for food production,” Alanana said.
The ADP Forum Chairman, while appealing to the governors to provide a certain percentage of allocations to agriculture in their various states, he added that once the governors key into the system, food production would receive a boost.
Alanana, who, however, blamed the food crisis and hunger mainly on inconsistency in policy formulation on agriculture by some governors in Nigeria, called for the prompt release of funds meant for agricultural activities.
According to the State ADP Manager, “government should change its policy on dry season farming left in the hands of peasant farmers to a more mechanised system for increasing food production.”
He called for the employment of more extension workers and adequate funding of agric activities, including the provision of mobility.
He expressed the optimism that the insecurity occasioned by banditry, killing and kidnapping of farmers, which have added to the food crisis in the country would soon be a thing of the past.
