The federal and state governments have been urged to partner with private manufacturing companies to produce tractors and simple labour-saving devices using prototypes from the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM).
The 2023 National Agricultural Extension Review and Planning Meeting (NAERPM) made the recommendation in a communique jointly signed by Dr T. Oluwasegun and Mahmud Abdulshakur, which was made available to newsmen on Thursday in Zaria.
The four-day meeting themed “State of Emergency on Food Security in Nigeria: Unlocking the Tools for Implementation”, was hosted by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), ABU Zaria.
The meeting observed, among others, that over 80 per cent of farmers still use crude farm tools and grains as seeds for production.
It further observed that Less than 1 per cent (300,000ha) of the available 34 million hectares of arable land in the country was under irrigation.
It also observed that high prevalence of pests and diseases in crops and livestock across the country and poor access to agricultural finance and insurance services as some of the hindrances to the state of emergency of food security.
The communique recommended the provision of additional infrastructure and development of efficient irrigation systems to encourage all year-round agricultural production as some mitigatory measures to some bottlenecks on state of emergency on food security.
“Increased support for research, development and promotion of livestock and improved crop that are resistant to pests and diseases.
“Facilitating farmers’ access to financial and insurance service providers and markets for agricultural produce among others,” the communique said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that during the meeting, annual reports of extension activities from National Agricultural Research Institutes, Agricultural Development Programmes and extension service providers in the private sector were presented and deliberated upon.
Similarly, the 2024 zonal work plans were presented and a harmonized 2024 calendar of extension activities was developed and adopted. (NAN)
By Mustapha Yauri
