The National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, is to train 75,000 agricultural extension agents on best agricultural practices to enhance food production in Nigeria.
Prof. Emmanuel Ikani, Executive Director, NAERLS told newsmen on Wednesday in Zaria that already, 12,600 agricultural extension agents had been trained by the institute under its e-extension training programme.
According to Ikani, the e-extension training programme was introduced following security challenges in parts of the country and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that the institute had to leverage on the ICT to reach agricultural extension agents and farmers, adding that the virtual training would help to reach millions of farmers using mobile phones.
Ikani said NAERLS would use its offices in the six geopolitical zones to educate farmers, using local languages, to transit to modern agriculture.
He stressed that the mandate of the institute was to provide information on best agricultural practices to boost farmers’ production and productivity.
The director added that the information would help processors and agro allied industries.
“I want to recalibrate the attitude of the farmers to begin to see agriculture as a clean business where people of integrity can go into,” he added.
