By Bisola Adeyemo
The Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri called for the strengthening of the agricultural extension system in Nigeria by adopting biotechnology application.
The Governor who spoke through his Deputy Mr Crowther Seth on Wednesday, stated this during the declaration of the media, farmers, and extension agents retreat on modern biotechnology for the northeast region held in Yola, tribune reports.
“The coming of agricultural biotechnology, therefore, offers us an opportunity to improve our crops and scale-up productivity which is currently at its lowest ebb. Nigerian farmers are harvesting one of the least average per hectare in the world.
“Our farmers cannot continue to labour in vain when there exist technologies that can help transform”, the Governor said.
“It is one of the most reliable platforms that can transform and translate research findings into concrete products that can enhance productivity and ensure farmers harvest more from their little portion land.
“For us in the Northeast, agriculture must return to its pride of place, creating jobs and making nutritious food available for the people. But this will remain a dream until the growing agricultural research and development sector in the country is backed by a strong extension service,” he noted.
“While research and development create new knowledge and produce new varieties with high potentials for us, it is the duty of extension services to bring that knowledge to the farmers who must embrace and cultivate the varieties.
“I, therefore, call for the strengthening of the research-extension-farmers-input-linkages-system because it is central to productivity enhancement and general improvement of rural livelihood.”
In his address, Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, said that agricultural biotechnology has become an acceptable option for Nigeria to improve our agricultural practice and productivity.
Professor Mustapha said that the training of farmers, extension agents, and media practitioners from the north is important because northern Nigeria is one of the leading producers of agricultural products in the country such as cowpea, maize, and groundnut.