NADF Launches Grassroots Digital Extension Corps Initiative

The Federal Government has launched a digital agricultural extension initiative, with 1,884 personnel trained to improve farmers’ access to technical knowledge, boost productivity and bridge the widening gap between agricultural research and farm-level application.

The initiative, known as the Grassroots Digital Extension Corps (GDEC), comprises 1,110 agricultural extension agents and 774 food security specialists trained across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Speaking at the national launch in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the initiative was critical to addressing Nigeria’s poor agricultural yields and unlocking the sector’s estimated $300bn economic potential.

He said agriculture currently contributed about 26 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employed over 70 per cent of the population across different segments of the value chain.

However, he lamented that the sector contributed only about $1 billion to the country’s foreign exchange earnings, despite its enormous potential to generate significantly higher revenue through improved productivity, processing and exports.

Abdullahi said agriculture could contribute as much as 30 per cent to President Bola Tinubu’s $1 trillion economy vision, translating to approximately $300 billion.

He stressed that achieving the target would require a knowledge-driven agricultural system supported by skilled personnel and effective extension services.

According to him, Nigeria’s low agricultural productivity compared with other African countries underscores the urgent need to strengthen farmers’ access to technical knowledge and improved production practices.

He noted that while yields for several Nigerian crops remained between 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per hectare, countries such as Egypt recorded about 11 tonnes per hectare under irrigation.

Using cassava production as an example, the minister said Nigeria remained the world’s leading producer, with an estimated output of 63 million metric tonnes annually, but its average yield of six to seven tonnes per hectare remained below its potential.

He explained that improved extension services could help farmers increase yields, reduce production costs and explore opportunities in industrial processing, including high-quality cassava flour and other value-added products.

The minister emphasised that extension services must go beyond advising farmers on planting techniques to providing market-oriented information that connects production with industry requirements.

“If your extension services and advice to me is not market-centric, you are just deceiving the farmer. You are wasting his time and discouraging him,” he said.

Abdullahi also called for the integration of GDEC with the ministry’s existing National Electronic Extension Platform (NEEP), warning against duplication of efforts and conflicting agricultural information.

He proposed a ministerial-level committee to harmonise existing initiatives into a unified national agricultural extension delivery system and urged the National Assembly to reconsider the proposed Agricultural Extension Bill.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed Ibrahim, said GDEC was developed in partnership with the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension and other stakeholders to address the gap between agricultural research and its practical application.

He explained that the programme was built around three critical components: people, tools and data, adding that it would also generate field-level information to help government design evidence-based agricultural interventions.

Ibrahim said the success of the initiative would be measured not by the number of personnel trained or digital tools distributed but by the number of farmers reached, adoption of improved practices and measurable productivity gains.

Also speaking, the Director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, Engr Dr Taiye Tehinse, said digital platforms such as FarmEasy would complement conventional extension approaches by improving communication, data collection and agricultural decision-making.

He said the trained personnel must possess both digital skills and practical agricultural competencies to provide quality advisory support, while calling for the inclusion of women, youths and persons with disabilities in digital agricultural programmes.

Similarly, the Head of Policy and Advocacy at NADF, Yejide Olarinde, identified the shortage of extension personnel as a major obstacle to agricultural development.

She disclosed that Nigeria had an extension agent-to-farmer ratio of approximately 1:10,000, compared with the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s recommended ratio of one extension agent to 1,000 farmers.

Olarinde said the disparity had restricted farmers’ access to timely information on improved production practices, climate-smart agriculture, soil management, appropriate input utilisation, pest and disease control and market opportunities.

She described extension agents as farmers’ best friends, stressing that their responsibility was to translate research findings and innovations into practical solutions that would improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods.

She added that GDEC would help ensure that relevant agricultural knowledge reached farmers at the grassroots and translated into measurable improvements in production.

Chibuzor Emejor is a correspondent with Independent Newspapers.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Independent Newspapers Limited, registered on July 17, 2001 (RC No: 419927), commenced publication on October 1, 2001. With registered office at 15b, Daranijo Street, off Odusami street, off Wemco road, Ogba, Ikeja