By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Experts in Agricultural Extension Services have urged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bauchi State to make concerted efforts in carrying out advocacy to both the state government, legislature and other key stakeholders with a view to paying more attention to Agricultural Extension Services for improved food production.
The call was made by an Agronomist Dr. Iliyasu Gital while making a presentation at a One Day Consultative Forum to address policy and practice gaps in agricultural extension service delivery, organised by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with funding support from OXFAM, held on Thursday 24th November, 2022 at the conference hall of Yimir Hotel, Bauchi.
Dr. Gital listed challenges militating against poor performance in agricultural extension services that include: Inadequate manpower in agricultural extension services, poor funding of extension activities and coordination.
Other challenges according to the expert were political and other government interference, combined with absence of a clear and legislated agricultural extension policy in Bauchi State.
He urged CSOs to beam their advocacies towards strengthening the sector with a view to creating better yields, employment opportunities and wealth creation in the state.
Also, another resource person drawn from the Federal Department of Extension Services of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mr. Tambul Halilu Buba, in a presentation on the opportunities that are bound at the federal level, urged the participants to leverage on the national agricultural technology and innovation policy. He pointed out that such policies are specifically tailored for small holder farmers, geared towards agricultural development and transformation of extension service delivery.
Mr. Buba also called on CSOs to partner with farmers associations in Bauchi State for an advocacy engagements with government and other key state actors in order to turn around the untapped potentials of the arable landmass in the state.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) said that the aim of consultative forum was to contribute to the effective delivery of extension services to small-holder farmers in Bauchi state.
Represented by a program officer, Muna Ugochukwu, Rafsanjani said that Bauchi state is host to a large population of farmers and a huge potential for scaling development through significant investment in agriculture.
He pointed out that the state government on its part has demonstrated some zeal to support agricultural development through gradual upward reviews of its agriculture budget annually.
“Nonetheless, the state is yet to maximize its agricultural production potential towards economic growth and improved livelihoods, for several reasons, including policy and practice limitations in implementing unified agricultural extension services for increased productivity and better living standards of small-scale farmers”, said Rafsanjani.
The ED further said that CISLAC with support from Oxfam within the framework of its “Together Against Poverty” (TAP) project is advocating for African leaders at the all levels to:
• Make progress toward meeting their Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) commitments.
• Put in place measures and strategies to build resilient food systems in the face of shocks and stressors such as COVID-19, climate change, and other current crises (e.g. conflicts) and to
• Promote gender justice and women’s economic empowerment.
“We are thus convening this forum to amongst other things contribute to improving productivity and livelihoods of small-holder farmers in the state by identifying the dimensions and drivers that limit the implementation of Extension services; locating opportunities within policy frameworks and practices that can contribute effectively to its delivery; and charting a course of collective action”, said Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani).
Our correspondent reports that the consultative forum attracted participants from women farmer groups, other small holder farmers, CSOs and the media.