Agric Dev Fund: Researchers complain of non access

 

Researchers who claimed to have applied for research project funds are already complaining of not being able to access the money from National Agricultural Development Fund ( NADF).

Food Farm News reliably gathered from some researchers who are bitterly complaining under anonymity that the NADF has not released any money to research work since its inception as a federal government agency.

" Those of us who had applied for agricultural funds for research development have not collected any kobo yet and this is a great concern to us" reseachers said.

They argued that agricultural research should not be treated as an optional component of food production, reason because improved seeds, climate-resilient varieties, soil technologies, pest-control methods, mechanisation systems and post-harvest technologies all depend on sustained research and development.

This position they claimed must give NADF concern because its statutory mandate includes addressing constraints to agricultural finance and supporting the development of Nigeria's food and agricultural systems.

NADF itself has severally said that its activities include research, capacity building and market information systems, alongside financing and other agricultural interventions. So why is not funds released to research, they asked.

Researchers said that the value of agricultural research is ultimately measured by what happens on the farms adding that a new crop variety, for example, may take years of breeding, field trials, evaluation and validation before it is ready for farmers.

" Without funding at these stages, researchers may be unable to complete trials, generate reliable data, multiply seed or move an innovation toward commercialisation" they anonymously pointed. 

Food Farm News gathered that research problem becomes more serious when institutions depend heavily on short-term grants pointing that Nigeria needs predictable domestic financing system that allowed scientists to plan multi-year research programmes rather than repeatedly searching for fragmented funding.

Findings suggest a system in which researchers can clearly understand funding windows with legibility requirements, selection criteria, timelines and seasoned applications that will be accepted or rejected.

Such transparency process they argued would allow researchers to improve on unsuccessful proposals and also plan their work more effectively.

Findings also stressed that research funding must be linked to measurable agricultural outcomes rather than simply the number of projects approved.

Reseachers' position was that a successful funding model should track whether a research produces improved varieties, technologies or practices, and whether those innovations reach farmers with feedback of more yields and incomes improvement.