The Federal Government has trained 1,884 agricultural personnel under a new grassroots digital agricultural extension initiative aimed at improving farmers’ access to technical knowledge and boosting food production.
The initiative, known as the Grassroots Digital Extension Corps, GDEC, was unveiled on Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi. Implemented by the National Agricultural Development Fund, NADF, the programme is designed to bridge the gap between agricultural research and its practical application at farm level.
Abdullahi said the trained personnel comprised 1,110 agricultural extension agents and 774 food security specialists drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said agriculture contributed about 26 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product and employed more than 70 per cent of the population across the value chain.
However, he noted that the sector contributed only about one billion dollars to the country’s foreign exchange earnings despite its enormous economic potential.
According to him, agriculture could contribute up to 30 per cent of President Bola Tinubu’s one trillion-dollar economy vision, representing approximately 300 billion dollars.
He stressed that achieving the target would require skilled personnel, improved productivity and effective agricultural extension services.
The minister said Nigeria’s crop yields remained relatively low compared with other African countries, noting that several crops recorded average yields of between 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per hectare, against about 11 tonnes per hectare in Egypt under irrigation.
He also cited cassava production, saying Nigeria remained the world’s leading producer with an estimated annual output of 63 million metric tonnes, but its average yield of six to seven tonnes per hectare remained below its potential.
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Abdullahi said improved extension services would help farmers increase yields, reduce production costs and explore industrial processing opportunities.
He called for the integration of GDEC with the ministry’s existing National Electronic Extension Platform to avoid duplication and conflicting agricultural information.
The minister also announced plans to establish a committee to harmonise existing initiatives into a unified national agricultural extension delivery system.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the programme was developed in partnership with the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension and other stakeholders.
He explained that GDEC was built around three components: people, tools and data, adding that it would generate field-level information to support evidence-based government interventions.
Ibrahim said the programme’s success would be measured by the number of farmers reached, adoption of improved farming practices and measurable improvements in productivity.
NADF’s Head of Policy and Advocacy, Yejide Olarinde, identified the shortage of extension personnel as a major challenge to agricultural development.
She said Nigeria had an estimated ratio of one extension agent to 10,000 farmers, compared with the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s recommended ratio of one to 1,000.
Olarinde said the shortage had limited farmers’ access to information on improved farming practices, climate-smart agriculture, soil management, pest control and market opportunities.
Similarly, the Director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, Dr Taiye Tehinse, said digital platforms such as FarmEasy would complement conventional extension methods by improving communication, data collection and agricultural decision-making.
He emphasised the need to equip trained personnel with both digital skills and practical agricultural knowledge. Tehinse also called for the inclusion of women, youths and persons with disabilities in digital agricultural prprogrammes.
NAN
