IAR&T yet to live up to expectations, but… —Director

Professor James Adediran is the Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo State. In this interview by NURUDEEN ALIMI, he narrates how the institute has been able to contribute its quota to the development of agriculture in Nigeria as well as the challenges being encountered in the course of performing its statutory obligations.

AS a director of an agricultural research institute saddled with the responsibilities of coming up with research outputs to develop agriculture in the country, do you think 1AR&T has lived up to its expectations?

Well, I do not think I will give a direct answer to this simply because there are two ways to it. First, I want to say that IAR&T is yet to live up to expectation because of so many challenges that we face in this research work. But it is also very important to say that under the level of resources available to the institute for research work to go on and the research atmosphere that is existing in the system, most especially in the way the resources are being given to us, IAR&T has performed beyond expectation.

Can you highlight some of those challenges you said you are facing?

There are so many of them, and we all know that in Nigeria it has not been easy for many government establishments because we depend solely on government funding, most especially the research institutions. There is normally inadequate fund provision, we all know that 10 percent of the GDP has been earmarked for agriculture in the budget. However, less than 2 percent has been released, so it also affects research and when fund is being given by government, there is always late release of funds. We also have low capacity of staff, so we need to improve the capacity by training, allowing them to attend more conferences both locally and internationally. Also, most of our laboratories are unequiped and these are very important for research, likewise the inadequacy of some research facilities. Unlike what obtains in the developed countries, facilities like grain house, water provision, roads and vehicles, are not yet there to support research fully and there is the problem of erratic power supply. When you are carrying out research and the light goes off and the power generator cannot even provide enough electricity needed, there is a problem. Most of these challenges are there for us which have caused us to perform below expectation.

Sir, is there a cordial relationship between the institute and the private sector to improve the agriculural sector?

We have cordial relationship between 1AR&T and the private sector. Most of our private sector partners are into agricultural production, most especially the farmers, our farmers are close to us simply because we have been saddled with the responsibilities of coordinating research and extension farmers input linkage system in south-western Nigeria, this makes us to be very close to our farmers, they benefit a lot from our advice, consultancy and in the improvement of their technologies. And we also collaborate with other institutions like: IITA, FRIN, CRIN, NIHORT and the rest of them. We are also seeking collaboration with agricultural industries, but you know the country is used to importing facilities from abroad, technological equipment is also imported. That is the reason there has been no cordial relationship between the agro-industry and the national research institutes like ours. This we want to improve, We have started working on it and by God’s grace we believe we will get leverages from these agro-industries.

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How have you been able to transfer research output from the institute to farmers to adopt?

To be sincere, we have an arm in the institute that takes care of such responsiblities, the farming system research and extension programme. And the zonal coordinating of REFILS for transfer of technologies to farmers, to our stakeholders is also in the institute for south-western Nigeria. So, we have been doing this, and we have transferred so many improved technologies through that means. We work closely with agricultural development programmes that is the arm of the ministry of agriculture and natural resources of our various states in the south-west part of the country. It is through this channel that we transfer technologies to farmers.

On a final note, What are those things that you think government can do to assist you in achieving your aims and objectives?

Sincerely, speaking, this present administration in the country has been struggling to do that and initially it was like lip service. As from last year, they have allocated some amount to us to improve our infrastructure. So you can see developments going and this one will help our research. We have renovated our laboratories, we have ordered for equipment galsswares, for reagent which will be used by our researchers and likewise, some money was given to the institute to build the capacity of our staff to be able to go to conferences locally, we have not been having opportunity of government sponsoring staff to international conferences. But for local conferences, workshops and trainings, government started it last year and we are satisfied. If government can continue in this manner, I believe that it will be better off for research system in Nigeria.