The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has commenced training of 50 Agric Extension Workers on extension tools, methodologies and selected agricultural value chain in Enugu.
Declaring the three-day training open in Enugu on Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, said the training was one of the ministry’s plans to address the drift in the agricultural extension system.
Abubakar, represented by a regional Director in the ministry, Mr Peter Nworga, said that the training also aimed at pursuing the revitalization agenda of the Nigerian economy.
He disclosed that agricultural extension delivery remained the driver of all agricultural policies and research, adding that without extension services all efforts in the agricultural ecosystem may not realize its intended goals.
He said the exercise was the third batch training aimed at empowering extension workers with knowledge to enhance service delivery to farmers, both in terms of production practices and equipment for technical support.
“It is a great pleasure for me to address you today at this auspicious occasion of the opening ceremony of the training of Agricultural Extension Agents across the 36 states and the FCT holding in the 37 states agricultural development projects in Nigeria.
“It is the desire of the Nigerian President, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and every Nigerian to see that our agricultural extension delivery system meets global competitiveness.
“This will also ensure we have adequate food for our population and some to augment our foreign earnings,” he said.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Mathew Idu, thanked the Federal Government for providing the platform to train Agric Extension workers consistently in the state.
Idu, represented by a director in the state ministry, Mr Fredrick Ozor, disclosed that farmers could not do anything in agriculture without the extension workers who did everything to enhance the production of crops.
Earlier, the Project Manager of Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme, (ENADEP), Dr Ogbonna Onyeisi, commended the Federal Government for what it had done so far to increase the production of crops in Nigeria.
Onyeisi assured of the State Government’s commitment to increase agricultural produce, adding that ENADEP had rolled out programmes to visit every local government area in the state to bring out all the challenges they encountered for solutions to them.
“I call farmers my family. They are the people that produce what we eat and with the help of an android phone we can reach every farmer and solve their problem by helping them to grow their crops without any hitches.
“Those challenges will be no more because we at the ENADEP are ready to take the bull by the horn.
“We are with the farmers and we believe that our governor will recruit more agric extension workers. We want agriculture to be the base of revenue for Enugu State,” he said.