The FCT, Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Director Mr Innocent Ajaefobi, has appealed to government at all levels to timely provide agricultural inputs to farmers for constant availability of farm products.
Ajaefobi made the appeal during the monthly Technology Review Meeting (MTRM) Fortnightly Training (FNT), for agric extension workers and subject matter specialists (SMSs) in FCT, on Monday in Gwagwalada.
He said the training was approved by the Mandate secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), Malam Suleiman Kolo, and designed to equip extension workers at the village level with the latest form of techniques in agricultural production.
He explained that all over the world, agricultural production was subsidised for farmers, adding that governments at all levels in Nigeria should always do the same.
“The intention of the training is to ensure food security in FCT. During the training we invited specialists in all aspects of agriculture to come and train our extension staff.
“These extension workers will go down and teach our local farmers, as far as demonstrating it for them on their farms for them to adopt.
“If the farmers adopt the techniques handed down to them by our extension workers, it will lead to increased production.
“Also, value addition of farm produce and ultimately it will lead to wealth creation, income generation to farmers and generally FCT populace,” the director said.
He called on all participants to see the training as an avenue for them to refresh their memories, listen to the trainers and equip themselves.
Earlier, the Head of Extension Services, FCT ADP, Dr Omole Olatunji, said the training was a forum for bringing in scientists, experts to teach ADP subject matter specialists on the need for development in agriculture.
Olatunji said agriculture was a dynamic profession and on daily basis new methods of production evolved which we needed to be abreast of.
He explained that the specialist would train the agric subject matter specialist of ADP, which would in turn train the extension workers that would then transmit the information to the farmers.
He said that the extension workers would gather information from the farmers on their problems and bring it back to the scientist to proffer solutions.
Olatunji said that since the commencement of the training, there had been great improvement on farmers productivity, adding that farmers’ approach to farming systems have changed.
“The quantity of food we are producing in the country is not enough to feed us not to talk of export; we are very far from food security.
“But with this kind of programme we have noticed improvement in farmers’ production.
“The training is not only on crop production, it involves fishery, animal production among others,” Olatunji said.
He said that the future of agriculture lied in the hands of small holder farmers, adding that they produced 70 per cent of what we eat.
Similarly, Mr Solomon Idowu, Head, Technical Services, FCT ADP said that the training cuts across the six Area Councils and when finally related back to farmers, would help to improve their productivity.
Idowu said that it would also help to put food on their tables, money in their pockets and empower their livelihood.
He said that the training was to ensure that there was an improvement in what the farmers are doing.
One of the participants, Mrs Dorcas Idowu, Zonal Extension Officer, Gwagwalada, said that the training was apt because there was a need to equip them on what they would teach the farmers.
He called on other participants to utilise the knowledge gathered from the training to equally improve the farming knowledge of the local farmers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three papers on enhancing farming prosperity with tela maize cultivation, production and management of sheep and goat (small ruminant) and fish stocking and routine fish management were presented.
The participants were trained extensively on the topics which they would in turn train the farmers.(NAN)
