Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has promised to engage more agricultural extension agents in the ongoing effort to boost food production in the state.
The governor made the pledge at the opening of a two-day workshop for the National Agricultural Extension Development Committee, in Lafia, the state capital on Tuesday.
The governor who decried the dearth of extension workers despite the critical role they played in providing support services to farmers across the country, called on the federal and state governments to accord priority attention to them if the country must achieve self-sufficiency and diversification drive through agriculture.
He said his administration is also committed to the training and retraining of the available Agricultural Extension Agents for effective and efficient service delivery.
“Government is not unaware of the neglect the Agricultural Extension Agents suffered over time as a result of dependency on oil as the major source of revenue to the nation’s economy. In this regard, various policies have been put in place to resuscitate and strengthen the ADPs as a parastatal, responsible for transforming the policies of Government into reality in order to drive the diversification of the economy.
“It is important to state that the significant role played by the ADPs in the implementation of agricultural policies and programmes through extension agents is critical to the development of the agricultural sector.
“To achieve food security and sufficiency, priority attention must be accorded in the selection of Agricultural Extension Agents to man the affairs, by disseminating vital information to farmers on both technological advancement and other challenges that could constitute a threat to farming activities.
He said the ADP is a World Bank project, designed to reduce rural poverty and improves agricultural production through a community-based approach, noting that’s why government at all levels has continued to champion the project as a way of sustaining what was hitherto put in place by the Donor Agencies, in view of its importance and associated benefits to socio-economic development.
“Today, the ADPs are faced with the issue of understaffing which has negated the programme in meeting the World Bank standard of agricultural practices.
“It is for this reason that the Government of Nasarawa State made a concerted effort by collaborating with other organizations such as OLAM, AZMA, JICA, SASAKAWA Africa, IFAD, and IITA, among others, thereby opening frontiers of employment opportunities and filling the vacancies created in the Programme,” he said.
He commended the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for organizing the all-important workshop.
He expressed optimism that the workshop will add value to the ongoing quest to diversify the agricultural sector, particularly at the grassroots levels by evolving new ideas and techniques towards achieving sustainable food security and reliance on socio-economic development.
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