In order to boost agricultural activities as well as educate farmers on best agricultural practices, the Federal government has distributed 370 motorcycles to support extension services across the country.
The distribution was done in Zaria on Friday by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh.
The Minister said that the Federal Government would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services (NAERLS) to train more extension agents in the country.
Decrying the collapse of extension services following the termination of the World Bank sponsored Agriculture Development Programme (ADP), Ogbeh also noted that the training would enable the youths to meet international standard on crop production.
“We want to set up extension offices in the states so that these youths will acquire knowledge on best agronomic practices,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Bala appealed to the Federal Government to promptly release funds to agricultural institutes.
The Director of NAERLS, Prof. Mohammed Othman said that the service had launched farmers’ helpline centre to solve the inability of farmers to reach extension officers.
He explained that the helpline would help provide information to farmers in all areas of agriculture and bridge knowledge gaps with encompassing experience in extension services.
“We are planning to disburse N200 million to small-scale farmers in 2018. We appeal for the increase of our personnel to enable extension services to reach farmers across the country,” he said.
