There is a movement towards breaking the yoke of crude agricultural practice to bring about the benefits of modern farming. This is as a result of the collaboration between the Agricultural Research institutes across Nigeria and the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWFON). The aim is to promote good farming practices and enhance agricultural productivity nationwide. The initiative aims to strengthen the fight against pests and diseases affecting various agricultural value chains.
Eze Onyekpere, Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), emphasised the importance of bridging the gap between research, extension services, and actual farm practices. “It is only when these innovations reach the grassroots that good farming practices can be adopted broadly,” he said.
Onyekpere added that the collaboration with SWFON is a strategic move to ensure that research outputs translate into practical improvements on farms across Nigeria. “We mapped out ten of these groups as well as the critical research institutes. This is to bridge the gap between what the research institutes are doing and what the farmers are doing in the practical field.”
He highlighted the potential of crops like cassava, saying, “Cassava alone can generate more revenue than oil in the country. Nigeria produces about 20% of the world’s cassava. I gave you an example of the value chain we all eat as gari; this is just one crop, we are not talking about other agricultural products yet.”
Honourable Kelechi Nworgu, member of the House Committee on Agriculture, described the initiative as a call to action, noting that it is a time when farmers are struggling with low productivity and core financial systems, so there is a need for stakeholders to look into the activities of farmers so it can be upgraded.
