No fewer than 40 Agricultural Extension Officers in Ogun State have been trained by thehe Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to boost food production
The extension officers during the 3-day training programme, updated their skills on the best global practices of handling modern tools, to enable them deliver on their job effectively.
The training took place at the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme premises, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, as a way of revatalising extension service delivery in Nigeria.
The exercise which took place concurrently, across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is the second phase of capacity building of extension officers.
In his welcome address, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said the Mohammadu Buhari government is keen on the revitalisation of the agricultural extension services in Nigeria, by way of building capacity for delivery of effective pluralistic extension and advisory services that meets global standard.
Abubakar, represented by the State Director, in the ministry, Engr. Ganiyu Oseni, assured participants that the training would enhance their knowledge of service delivery to farmers in terms of production practices and equipment for technical support
He urged them to take it seriously, so as to make the training programme to actualize its target of ensuring food security aimed at boosting foreign earnings for the nation at large.
"This training is one of several strategies planned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to halt the drift in the agricultural extension system with aim of pursuing the revatalisation agenda of the Nigerian economy by the Federal Government", he said.
Declaring the event open, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Adeola Odedina, says the emphasis on training of extension agents is apt, as it offers free advisory services to young farmers and investors, describing it as a mandate of government that should be achieved, to set agricultural development agenda in motion.
Odedina while lauding the initiative, said it is a welcomed idea as it complements the State's agricultural road map development, saying Ogun has the largest ratio of extension workers in the country, with an average of at least five extension officers in each of the 20 Local Government Areas of the State.
"These days, people want to practice agriculture and invest in it, but they do not have adequate knowledge, which is where the extension agents come in to give advisory services. Agriculture is profitable, especially for those that yield to advice, and our goal is to attract more youths and prospective investors into the agricultural sector" Odedina said.
In their reactions, Mr. Joseph Talabi and Miss Adeola Gbadamosi, appreciated the government for the training given to them at no cost, pledging to spread the information acquired on new technologies and methods of farming to the farmers for effective productivity.
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