Lagos govt promises priority attention to agric extension officers
The Lagos State Government says it will continue to place more importance on extension officers, to ensure better services and help farmers increase their yields.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, said this when she declared open a five-day training programme for extension agents in Lagos on Tuesday.
Olusanya said that the training was a collaborative initiative of the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (LSADA) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
She said that the training was a boost for food security initiative of the state government, saying that the officers, as teachers of farmers needed to be prioritised and be motivated.
According to her, the narrative will change going forward and agricultural extension officers will begin to enjoy motivation, encouragement and incentives to compensate for all the work they do.
“I see the extension agents as teachers of the farmers. We have to do much more in encouraging and motivating them to ensure that they are able to help our farmers to increase yields and enhance productivity.
“In doing so, we will have better food-secured Nigeria and food- secured Lagos but I think that a lot needs to be done for the extension agents and honestly don’t see so much motivation,” Olusanya said.
The commissioner further said that extension officer had been relegated for far too long, bearing in mind that they taught farmers the best practices and technologies to be employed to enhance productivity.
She commended the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the partnership with the state government in organising the training for extension workers.
Olusanya said that during the lockdown, the government focused on the teachers while the farmers and farming communities suffered huge losses.
“It is not a function of saying that from a place of criticism but it’s coming from a place of reality.
“Our farmers and our farming communities suffered huge losses; meaning that the impact of the lockdown would have been worse on extension agents and officers.
“Who thought about that? It is time that we begin to move with one voice and to show ourselves in the light that we want to be seen.
“That narrative needs to change going forward,” Olusanya said.
She said that the duties of agricultural extension agents could not be over emphasised.
She noted that they were not just expected to teach farmers about the latest practices and technologies required to improve their productivity but also to help farmers understand market prices.
Olusanya said that Lagos could not afford to continue to be dependent on other states for its food supplies, saying it was matter of time before trouble broke out if anything went wrong with the supply chain.
She said that hence the need to look inward and start growing its own food which highlighted the importance of extension officers the more.
Earlier, Mr Ernest Umakhihe, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that noticeable declining number and low skills had hampered the adoption of best practices and new innovations in the agricultural sector.
Umakhihe, represented by Mrs Olayinka Akeredolu, Lagos State Coordinator for the Agriculture Extension Agent Training, said that lack of motivation for extension officers was evident in low productivity.
“It also proves lack of adherence to standards; causing rejection of Nigerian produce aboard,’’ he said.
The permanent secretary said that the determination of government to revitalise agricultural extension services would help farmers and value chain actors to make effective use of productive forces.
Umakhihe said it would also help in information technology to improve the livelihood of rural population, create jobs and promote sustainable agricultural and socio-economic development of the country.
Also, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Hakeen Adeniji, urged participants to incorporate the use of modern technologies to make their work easier and faster.
Adeniji said that the expectations of the masses were now higher with the introduction of latest technologies.
