Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State has said Nigeria could unearth the enormous potentials tied to agriculture with the adoption and right application of agricultural Biotechnology.
The Governor stated this while declaring open, the media, farmers, and extension agents retreat on modern biotechnology for the North East region held in Yola, the state capital.
The Governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Mr. Crowther Seth, said Nigeria is a country known worldwide for its agricultural exploits but today the contributions of the agriculture to the nation’s GDP has greatly reduced in recent years due to productivity challenges.
“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,” he said.
He called for the strengthening of the agricultural extension system in Nigeria, saying 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 of 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,” the governor said.
“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.”
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