The National Assembly (NASS) has promised the speedy passage of the agricultural extension service delivery revitalization bill to accelerate food security.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Production Services and Rural Development, Senator Saliu Mustapha, gave the assurance at a technical session on the draft agricultural extension service delivery revitalization bill organized by Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN-ICON2) Project in Abuja, on Wednesday.
The lawmakers noted that the proposed bill will improve extension service delivery which is the bedrock of capacity building and technical support for smallholder farmers Agric entrepreneurs.
According to him, “a more efficient extension delivery system will lead to better production in terms of quality and quantity. This will improve livelihoods and ultimately, food security.”
He added that with such improvements, even the problem of insecurity will be reduced. “With the insecurity, we have in the country today, if agriculture is working the way it ought to, it will have reduced the problem by 70 to 80 per cent of it,” he said.
Mustapha pledged to discuss with his colleagues in the National Assembly to give the bill the needed attention and a wider scope.
In their separate remarks, the Chairmen of the House Committees on Agriculture Production and Services and Agriculture Colleges and institutes, Honourable Bello Kaoje and Honourable Salman Idris respectively, expressed support for the proposed bill and also pledged to support speedy passage of the bill when it gets to the National Assembly.
While aligning with the positions of the lawmakers, the immediate past chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Colleges and Institutes, Munir Dan’agundi advised that the state houses of assembly should also be sensitized to adopt the bill in their respective states.
Speaking earlier, the Country Director of the WOFAN ICON2 Project, Dr Salamatu Garba explained that the Project’s extension service model worked so successfully that it became obvious that if we have an efficient extension service system in place, young people will be more successful as agripreneurs due to improved access to good technical advice and support.
“This is why WOFAN-ICON2 is interested in and thrilled to work with other stakeholders to propose legislation that will make extension service delivery with the sole aim of making extension service delivery more efficient as this will attract more young people to agriculture, and we will then be well on our way to achieving food security.
“To be honest, the agricultural extension system in Nigeria needs a lot of reawakening and this bill will help push the process forward,” Dr Salamatu said.
She explained that the Integrated Community-led Network of Hope Scale-up (WOFAN-ICON2) Project is a five-year intervention which seeks to create decent and sustainable employment opportunities for 675,000 youth between 18 and 35 years old as part of Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works (YAW) strategy with the main goal of ensuring that the young participants living across 10 Nigerian states, have improved quality of life.
The technical session was attended by experts and specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs); scholars; researchers; youth; value chain actors as well as food security and gender advocates.
The outcomes and recommendations from the technical session will be used by the legal drafting committee to enrich the bill before presenting it to National Assembly Committees on Agriculture for consideration.
