Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

APRA advocates better deal for medium scale farming in Ogun

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
28 November 2021   |   3:47 am
Increased access to labour and land markets, extension services, all-weather roads, and agro-dealer services has been identified as major drivers of agricultural commercialisation in Nigeria.

Increased access to labour and land markets, extension services, all-weather roads, and agro-dealer services has been identified as major drivers of agricultural commercialisation in Nigeria.

This is part of the findings by the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA), a research consortium funded by Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UK, focused on investigating the opportunities and challenges associated with medium-scale farming as a pathway to inclusive agricultural commercialisation and improved livelihood outcomes for farm families across Nigeria.

In separate stakeholders meetings held at the palace of Onimeko of Imeko and Ijebu East Local Council headquarters, Ogbere, Ogun State, farmers and community leaders in the state were engaged on how to improve their livelihoods.

The Country Coordinator of the programme in Nigeria, Prof Adebayo Aromolaran of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, said APRA is focused on working with key Nigerian stakeholders in agricultural and rural development to identify strategies for helping to improve the livelihoods of farm families, women, and youths across Nigeria by providing research-based evidence to support the need for concrete changes in the food and agricultural systems.

Prof Aromolaran explained that APRA Nigeria workstream 1 research team has been working in Imeko Afon, Obafemi Owode and Ijebu East LGAs of Ogun State and Chikun, Kachia and Soba LGAs of Kaduna State since 2018.

On the key findings of the study, Prof Aromolaran said a very low percentage of small-scale farms in the state had stepped up to medium scale (five hectares and above) in the past decades, adding that access to land was found to be a major reason.

He also informed participants that the study found that interactions of medium scale farms with small-scale farms around them could increase the productivity and incomes of small-scale farms and reduced poverty among small-scale farm households.

Furthermore, participants were told that certain cultural and socio-economic constraints were preventing women and youth from cultivating commercial tree crops, which has the potential to improve their livelihoods substantially, adding that if all these challenges are well addressed, a significant number of farm families in Nigeria will move out of poverty.

The Onimeko of Imeko, Oba Benjamin Olanite, represented by Chief Segun Olaleye, appealed to APRA to step up efforts to ensure effective implementation of their findings by policy makers at all levels of government in the country.

Chief Abdulazeez Ismail Abolore and Alhaja Risikat Adenokun, both farmers association leaders, said upgrading of farmers from small scale to medium scale level would give more hope to farm families, as this will boost productivity and incomes.

During the meetings, participants deliberated on various issues raised by the APRA research and recommended specific roles that government, private sector and the concerned communities can play in addressing the issues.

In this article

0 Comments