NADF plans investment in agric research institutes

Some 25 years into the abandonment of Nigeria’s Agricultural Research System (NARS), the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has launched an investment initiative to revamp the country’s agricultural research institutes and colleges of agriculture across the

Executive Secretary of NADF, Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, disclosed this over the weekend during a Baseline Survey and Needs Assessment of Agricultural Research Institutes and Federal Colleges of Agriculture, conducted by the fund.

He lamented the deplorable state of the 16 agricultural research institutes and 17 colleges of agriculture.

Ibrahim said NADF had engaged a consultant to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the research institutes and colleges of agriculture to evaluate their strengths, constraints, and gaps. The findings, he added, revealed that most of these institutions were in poor condition due to years of neglect.

He added that the fund was developing a tailored approach to leveraging public funds to catalyse private-sector investment in the agricultural research system.

His words: “We want to examine the unique propositions of the research institutions and explore how we can support the commercialisation of their outputs, while also linking them to the market.”

To ensure the sustainability of the interventions, Ibrahim stated that NADF had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one of Africa’s largest renewable energy companies to provide a stable power supply for the research institutes.

Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Prof. Garba Sharubutu, remarked that the revalidation meeting signifies a rebirth of Nigeria’s Agricultural Research System.