IAR cropping and REFILs Workshop starts 1st-4th march

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Samaru, Zaria

 

The year 2016 Cropping Scheme and North West Zonal Research Extension Farmer Inputs Linkage System (REFILs) meeting organized by the commences this week from March 1^st-4^th with the theme “ revamping agriculture for economic growth and sustainability”.

This four day workshop will be held at the conference centre hall of IAR as the special guest of honour on the occasion is Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Chief AuduOgbeh together with the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) Prof. B.Y Abubarkar.

The  Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Prof. Ibrahim Garba and Executive Director, IAR, Prof. I.U Abubakar are expected to be chief host and host respectively.

At the last year workshop the issues of improper funding of research and extension were put in focus with a summation that government improvement on this challenge would enhance more improved farming technologies towards making available more commercial production for business purposes. 

In the face of the falling prices of crude oil which has affected our major source of revenue the theme of this year workshop will be germane to proffering solution for the way to go about revamping the sector for economic growth and sustainable as stakeholders from both public and private sectors are expected to attend with foreign partners in the agricultural sector.  

Some of the resolutions reached at the last year meeting includes-* Research institutes and farmers should sit together and come up with all problems affecting agriculture and suggest possible solutions to those problem for presentation to government in order to re-engineering the Nigerian agriculture.

·         Advocacy visits should be embarked upon by the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension Services (FDAE) along with other relevant stakeholders including farmers groups to sensitize incoming administration in various states.

·         Kano state was commended for establishing five training Institutes, other states in the country were encouraged to emulate.

      The Nigerian Government should support the extension services by increasing the numbers of extension agents to eliminate the gross inadequacy of the number of AEs.

·         The government should provide enabling environment for private extension services provider.

·         The various state governments in the zone should be encouraged to increase funding of ADPs in their states to enhance provision of effective agricultural extension services to farmers.

·         The workshop also advocates the sustainability of GES inputs supply system of the federal Government to ensure transparency and timely  distribution of inputs to farmers.