… FG to deploy 35 extension workers per local government by June
Federal Government would deploy 35 extension workers per local government area to help with educating farmers because the nation loses over 75 percent of its agriculture produce between the farm gates and the processing plants.
Experts say this is because farmers are poorly educated, have porous records keeping practices and practice agriculture at the substance level.
Irede Ajala, senior technical adviser, investment promotion, agribusiness and donor funding to the minister of agriculture and rural development, Federal Ministry of Agriculture at the BusinessDay’s Agribusiness and Food Security Summit, said, “We are having a hard time educating older farmers because they seem set in their ways.
“With the younger people participating in agriculture this would change. Recall that the N-Power programme meant to recruit over 500,000 youth and 30,000 of these would specialise in agricultural extension work.”
Ajala said, “A simple arithmetic shows that this would give 35 extension workers per local government area. This is only for a start we hope to scale up over time. The extension workers would get adequate training and curriculum is being developed. These 35 extension worker would be deployed by June.”
The limitations suffered by farmers as a result of inadequate education include makes it difficult for them to produce bankable business plans in order to access funding or credit.
“The biggest problem in the agribusiness space is skills deficit. The industry sorely needs to build human capacity, especially with regards to forming the younger generation of agropreneurs. It is indeed dis-hearting to find that some farms in Nigeria import skills from neighbouring countries. To develop this sector we must take capacity building seriously,” said Monsunmola Umoru, technical
adviser (Youth & Gender) at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
To professionalise farming in Africa’s largest economy and guarantee food security, the role of farmers’ education cannot be overemphasised. “Human capacity is everything. Farmers lack the requisite education and awareness needed to be credit worthy. Their records are poorly kept and held. There are policy environment constraints but the key limitation is dearth of human capital in the agriculture space” said Sam Ajibola, head agricultural and micro-insurance Leadway Assurance Company Limited.
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