The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, says the National Agricultural Extension Development Committee Forum will accelerate agricultural extension service and livelihoods of Nigerian farmers.
A statement by Mr Ezeaja Ikemefuna, Chief Information Officer, ministry of Agriculture, said Abubakar made this known at a two- day workshop for 2022 NAEDC meeting in Nasarawa State.
The minister said NAEDC would also improve technology innovation of the farmers.
The workshop is ‘’ Strengthening the Agricultural Development Programme (ADPs) for Effective Agricultural Extension Service Delivery at the Grassroots in Nigeria”.
Abubakar said that NAEDC was a veritable tool to interact, clarify and amplify some of the on- going policy objectives of the Present Administration in the Agricultural Extension sub-sector.
He said that the forum had formed part of the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension (FDAE) strategy to achieve one of its key mandates of the coordination of the Nigeria Agricultural Extension System (NARES).
Abubakar said that the meeting would assess the status of National Agricultural Extension System, its national coordinating activity at the federal level and efforts of agricultural development programmes in the States.
“This NAEDC is therefore an opportunity to review progress in the sector and project for future,” he said.
The minister urged stakeholders to review the progress on the legislation of the Draft National Agricultural Extension Policy, and provide solutions to identify logjams.
He equally urged the stakeholders to do an unbiased investigation of the major factors that had hampered the effective performance of the APD in agricultural development as well as the existence of synergy or lack of it.
In his remarks, the governor of Nasarawa, Abdullahi Sule said that the state had left no stone unturned in ensuring that the policies of the Federal Government on agriculture were well positioned and implemented in alleviating people from the shades of the realities of life.
” Partnering agriculture have become expedient in the lives of everyone, because each and every one of us here depend on all facets of agriculture for survival ‘’.
The Nasarawa Commissioner for Agriculture and Water Resources, Mr Ibrahim Oshafu said that the Government of Nassarawa had made the workshop a priority which would fast track the agricultural extensions.
Oshafu said this is toward achieving food and nutrition security.
