A report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation revealed that 21 Nigerian states including the FCT face the threat of food crisis in 2022. It also noted that 14.4 million Nigerians are already facing a food crisis, but which could grow to 19.5 million by the end of the year. To reverse the trend and build a sustainable food system that will cater for the local food needs and also food production that will serve as a source of foreign exchange earnings, Nigeria must as a matter of urgency find alternative ways to strengthen the food system.
One of such way, which can guarantee a top-bottom approach to strengthening the food system is to look into the educational needs of the farming communities, and the would-be farmers across the country. Looking into the educational needs of the farming communities, and the would-be farmers across the country is key to taking a bottom-up approach to agricultural education in Nigeria. Taking a close look into the educational trends in the country, the majority of the youths, who have the potential to change the agricultural landscape of the country are enrolled in the university education system due to the nation’s demand for university graduates.
The resultant effect of their enrolment in the university is that most of these graduates are not interested in practical agriculture. Majority of the graduates are interested in white-collar jobs, and those that are interested in practical agriculture are only trained to be in supervisory, management and consultancy capacities. In making sure that the human resources and the mental acumen needed to withstand the changing landscape of agriculture in the country are available, policymakers and researchers must turn to leverage on the education offered by the nation’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The Nigerian youth population, who are most affected by unemployment are in the agrarian communities. This population is also the major attendants of the nation’s polytechnics, monotechnics, technical and vocational colleges. Working on rejigging the educational curriculum, and engaging the graduates of the nation’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training centres will strengthen the food system and provide the support needed by the smallholder farmers who are responsible for more than 90 per cent of the agricultural output in Nigeria if attention is focused agri-food production.
According to the Nigerian National Policy on Education, the country’s TVET aims to provide youth with the skills to work in the applied sciences, technology and business, particularly at craft, advanced craft and technical levels. TVET also intends to provide the technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, commercial and economic development; and give training and impart the necessary skills to individuals for self-reliance economically. With the nation recovering from economic losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and the exigency posed by the challenge of climate change, smallholder farmers face urgent challenges in their effort to feed the nation.
The curriculum of the agricultural courses under the nation’s TVET needs a thorough overhauling to accommodate innovative agricultural practices such as climate-smart agriculture, precision agriculture and soilless agriculture. Classes and practical sessions must incorporate technology-driven practices as opposed to the brick-and-mortar methods of rainfed agriculture we have been used to. There is a need for the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) to incorporate agile approaches in training students so as to be able to include impactful technical knowledge and vocational skills that will ensure sustainable agricultural development.
With foreign aid pouring in to support smallholder farmers in Africa and Nigeria, training graduates of TVET with skills to help in food security programme implementation, management and monitoring will help in getting the intervention from these programmes to the smallholder farmers that need it.
To start with, there is a need to empower the graduates in the areas of capacity development so as to provide advisory and extension services to farmers, step down field trial results to farmers and also engage in modern agricultural practices they have been taught.
To consolidate these recommendations, it would also help if the minimum standard of TVET centres across the country were reviewed to capture a synopsis of the research reports that support climate-smart agriculture as the key to bountiful agricultural production and food security.
Hammed Olaoluwa Jimoh is a lecturer at the School of Vocational and Technical Education, Federal College of Education, Katsina
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