Output
By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko
Ibadan, April 24, 2018 (NAN) The Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan, on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to urgently come up with innovative strategies that will increase the productivity of farmers.
The Executive Director of the Institute, Prof. James Adediran, made the call at the South-West Zonal workshop on the Research Extension Farmers Input Linkage System (REFILS), organised by IAR&T in Ibadan.
He said that the introduction of such strategies would facilitate the creation of economic returns on agricultural activities, which were aimed at achieving sustainable food and fibre production.
Adediran said that food production in Nigeria was still low because the country relied mainly on the output of peasant farmers, adding that the greater percentage of those who were in engaged in farming were smallholder farmers.
He said that due to the dynamic nature of research, new innovations should be made continually to improve the people’s well-being, adding, however, that IAR&T had tailored its research efforts to solving the challenges facing the farmers’ production.
“Some of the newly generated technologies we have developed include soil, crop, livestock and industrial-based, grain legume-based crop utilisation and farming system-based technologies.
“The technologies have been transferred to farmers in our states in Monthly Technology Review Meetings (MTRM) through the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs),” he said.
Adediran commended some governors who regularly financed REFILS activities, and appealed to others who failed to fund them to start supporting REFILS programmes so as to fast-track the agricultural development of the country.
In a keynote address, Mr Faleke Olusegun, the Regional Coordinator (South-West), Nigeria Export Promotion Council, said that Nigeria could survive without the proceeds from crude oil sales if it could speed up its food production and add value to it.
“The quality control and value addition aspects of agriculture are very important, farming methods should change. Research and development is needed and there is need for farmers to always use improved seedlings.
“Besides, the control of pesticides, herbicides should be in conformity with international practices; methods of crop preservation, packaging also need to improve,” he said.
Earlier, the REFILS South-West Zonal Coordinator, Dr Olukemi Lawal, said that REFILS represented the framework for coordinating research and extension activities in all agricultural zones.
Lawal said that the activities of REFILS included the conduct of diagnostic surveys to identify limiting constraints of farmers, the development of appropriate technologies in research stations and on-farm evaluation.
She said that one of the major objectives of REFILS was to bring researchers, extension workers, policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders together to find solutions to production constraints limiting agricultural development in the zone.
Lawal, however, urged state governors in South-West geopolitical zone to increase the funding of their ADPs to enable them to perform their agricultural extension roles.
The highlights of the event include the presentation of an award to the immediate-past REFILS South-West Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Gabriel Oluwatosin, for his outstanding contributions to the project in the zone. (NAN)
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Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed and Dayo Komolafe