Need to revive agricultural extension services in Nigeria

For farmers to be better informed and properly enriched with information, the agricultural extension system must be strengthened. Despite the potentials we have in Nigeria to develop a vibrant agricultural sector, the sector is still fraught with problems, one of which is the collapse of the agricultural extension services, which had been seriously weakened by […]

For farmers to be better informed and properly enriched with information, the agricultural extension system must be strengthened. Despite the potentials we have in Nigeria to develop a vibrant agricultural sector, the sector is still fraught with problems, one of which is the collapse of the agricultural extension services, which had been seriously weakened by lack of funding to support field extension activities, poor roads and unstable policies by government.
Many farmers in Nigeria today are considered to be laggards because of their limited ability to raise their productivity and their standard of living and this is attributed to the government’s failure to provide the farmers with extension workers, who will bring to the farmers innovations, better ideas and improved ways of farming.
And in view of the fact that agriculture in Nigeria is characterised by traditionalism and stagnation, most farmers do not even know the role of the extension workers.
Mr. Haklasu Yakubu, is a farmer in Yalwa Sabon Kaura area of Bauchi, in Bauchi State, with three hectares of land, cultivates maize, millet, beans, groundnut and other crops.
He lamented that the agricultural extension service in Nigeria is now weakened, saying that farmers need to be supported by extension agents.
“Many people are of the belief that rural farmers are very conservative; we are not as conservative as people think. We are always ready to accept new ideas of farming that will raise our productivity,” he said.  
In this regard, access to mobility, being the most limiting constraint to the performance of agricultural extension activities, should be tackled. This will greatly help rural farmers have access to improved ways of farming through the extension agents, who will go around to disseminate agricultural information and technological ideas to farmers for sustainable development and good quality of life.
The extension agents will also take the farmers’ problems to research institutions for findings and give them advice on how to cultivate wisely the locally grown crops such as millet, beans, groundnut, rice etc.
Rilwan is a 100 level student of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, ATBU, Bauchi.