Close Menu
  • Business
  • Features
  • Interview
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • The Icon
  • Get In Touch
Trending
  • NPA Meets With APM Terminals, Shipping Lines Over Container Movement To Seaport
  • Aviation Sector Recorded Zero Investment In The Last Two Years – Segun Musa
  • Terrorism: Customs Needs To Advance Beyond Revenue Collection, Says Mickey Excellency Boss, Mukaila
  • APC: Arewa Community Forum Accuses Party Leadership In Lagos Of Relegating, Marginalizing Members
  • Eid-Mubarak: AREFFN Chairman, Ohambele Felicitates Muslim Faithful At PTML 
  • NDIC Seeks Stakeholders’ Input To IADI Core Principles For Effective Deposit Insurance
  • Eid Mubarak: ANLCA Chairman, Wale Cole Celebrates Muslim Faithful At Tincan
  • LASWA Partners Lekan Bakare Foundation To Mark World Oceans Day
Prime Time Reporters
  • Business
  • Features
  • Interview
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • The Icon
  • Get In Touch
Prime Time Reporters
Home » FG targets 75,000 extension workers in 4 years to improve agriculture
Business

FG targets 75,000 extension workers in 4 years to improve agriculture

Saint AugustineBy Saint AugustineMay 29, 2022No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

The federal government has said that it targets to train 75,000 extension workers in four years to improve the agriculture sector in Nigeria.

The Director of Extension, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Engr. Frank Satumari Kudla who stated this in an interview with newsmen at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan recently said that by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) records, Nigeria supposed to have one extension worker to eight hundred farmers adding that recent assessment by the Ministry showed that the country had one extension worker to thirty thousand farmers which, according to him, was grossly inadequate.

While stating that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had thought it necessary to do an aggressive training of extension workers, he added that “We are targeting 75,000 extension workers within the period of four years.”

He, however, disclosed that so far, the Ministry had trained over two thousand extension workers and was targeting training another two to three thousand this year under the 2022 budget.

“Hopefully, by the end of the year, we would have trained these extension workers and there are some private sectors too that are into training of these extension workers. We are synergizing with them to see that we can bridge the gap as soon as possible because it is like the pillar of agriculture. If you don’t have extension workers, nobody, all these researches that we are doing, they are good but they cannot get to the grassroots if the extension workers are not there.

“So, we see it as a matter of urgency and importance to, by whatsoever means get these extension workers trained and in the short run, definitely, you will see the difference.”

On efforts to bring Nigeria to its past glory in cocoa production globally, the Director observed that the federal government through the Ministry of Agriculture, had been intervening by supporting farmers by way of providing hybrid Cocoa pods and then, supporting the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) in the production of seeds.

“Above all, we are also trying to promote mechanization so that we can have a better yields and injecting youths into cocoa farming business because most of those who are into cocoa farming are ageing and youths are not being encouraged mostly because of drudgery and that is why the federal government is looking very seriously towards the angle of mechanization.

“So, these are some of the interventions so far that I know and that I was involved. I am saying that we promote cocoa farming more especially in cocoa producing states”, he submitted.

Speaking on efforts to curb deforestation and ensure availability of land for cocoa farmers, he said, “You know, agriculture is on the concurrent list and most of these lands are owned by states. We regulate and support the state governments in achieving our own goals.

“In terms of deforestation, I know as a matter of fact that the federal government through the Ministry of Environment and its agencies has done a great deal of services by planting trees in the desert encroaching states. I have seen for myself in one of the states in the north where they are doing tree planting to fight against the desert and there are some projects too which I know in the Ministry of Environment which are promoting the use of modern stuff which is being provided for rural women to discourage tree felling.

“And of course, at our own end, we promote the use of tree planting to our farmers to fight soil erosion and not only desertification, there’s soil erosion in farm lands. So, these are the few things I can tell you that we are doing to mitigate against desert encroachment.”

On whether there are incentives being put in place by the federal government to attract the youth into cocoa farming, Engr. Kudla said, “Yes, the incentives, as I said, when we go for capacity building, we also support the Youths with improved varieties of these cocoa pods and some few machineries that we have that can reduce drudgery. And of course, we are targeting the youths and the rural women because they are the main stakeholders in the farming of this cocoa.”

Photo: Dr. Mohammed Mahmood, Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Send your press invite, news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @ptreporters and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.

CocoaSoils Forum 2022 Engr. Frank Satumari Kudla Extension Workers Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Food and Agricultural Organization
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleFocus on your studies, pay attention to personal development, stakeholders charge maritime students
Next Article Cocoa Bean Rejection: CRIN doing a lot to educate farmers, processors, others in cocoa value chain
Saint Augustine
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)

Saint Augustine is a seasoned freelance journalist and the chief editor of Primetime Reporters.

Related Posts

NPA Meets With APM Terminals, Shipping Lines Over Container Movement To Seaport

June 11, 2025

Aviation Sector Recorded Zero Investment In The Last Two Years – Segun Musa

June 8, 2025

Terrorism: Customs Needs To Advance Beyond Revenue Collection, Says Mickey Excellency Boss, Mukaila

June 8, 2025
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

NPA Meets With APM Terminals, Shipping Lines Over Container Movement To Seaport

June 11, 2025

Aviation Sector Recorded Zero Investment In The Last Two Years – Segun Musa

June 8, 2025

Terrorism: Customs Needs To Advance Beyond Revenue Collection, Says Mickey Excellency Boss, Mukaila

June 8, 2025

APC: Arewa Community Forum Accuses Party Leadership In Lagos Of Relegating, Marginalizing Members

June 7, 2025

Eid-Mubarak: AREFFN Chairman, Ohambele Felicitates Muslim Faithful At PTML 

June 7, 2025
© 2025 Copyright Primetime Reporters.
  • Home
  • Business
  • Features
  • Interview
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • The Icon
  • Get In Touch
  • Privacy Policy

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.