FG to reposition ARCN, agric colleges, others

The Federation Government (FG) has constituted a panel to understudy the 2021 amended act of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) towards  meaningful recommendations that would be used to reposition the council, colleges of agriculture and other institutes for better performance in commercial productivity of the sector.

This was contained in a press statement issued by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and made available to Foodfarmnews recently.

In the statement signed by Mrs. Obe Mabel for Director of Information, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar was reported as telling the inaugurated committee chaired by Prof. Bala Abubakar that they should be very passionate to produce an effective recommendation that would enhance the implementation of the ARCN 2021 Act towards sustainable food security with proactive research practices and improved technologies in the country.

He added that the repositioning of the council and its affiliated institutes and colleges must be total in order to ensure a better performance, impactful research and development activities in the country pointing out that ‘’agricultural research and development is a crucial determinant of agricultural productivity and production as well as boosting food security.’’

The minister was quoted as having said that ‘’ our focus of strengthening the coordination of research and development activities within the sector is to create a single comprehensive Governing Board for the ARCN and its related Institutes and Colleges for effective management, streamlining and economic purposes.”

He added: “the council and its affiliated Institutes and colleges should be encouraged to implement technologies to increase the nutrient density of commercial and staples crops through good agronomic practices, conventional plants breeding, or modern biotechnology.”

The ministry’s Permanent Secretary (PS), Dr. Ernest Umakhihe asked members of the committee to ensure that they made use of the amended ARCN Act to come out with good recommendation that would enhance the entire agricultural research ecosystem in the country.

He added that, “agriculture has been and still remained a major focus for engaging individuals and relevant corporate sector entities in Agribusiness, to support value chain addition to other commodities, production of adequate food for the teeming population and a major contributor to Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)’’

It would be recalled that Food Farm News had in its last edition of editorial comment asked for the repositioning of the colleges of agriculture towards meeting the purpose for which they were established, in view of many rejection of agricultural produce in foreign markets, resulting from substandard production.