How IAR Research Is Moving To Address Farmers Challenges On NIMET Prediction

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By; SANI ALIYU

Promoting agricultural development in Nigeria is  what the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) is doing  to address the challenges farmers are experiencing as regards to the NIMET  prediction on shortage of rainfall.

 It is true the raining season is here again as usual, the IAR has been working  towards creating more awareness among  Nigerian farming communities on what is  in stock in the institute in terms of  technology, that improves seeds for enhanced farming. The institute has  qualitative management practices that will be disseminated among stakeholders for better understanding.

 The outcome of NIMET prediction in which the drought raising season or terminal, the  experts suggestion is for farmers to plant  early and immediate matured crop  varieties that can be done very well with the length of the predict wet raining  season. 

These varieties are going to stay long enough by the time that the drought  set in, they are almost matured so the  repaying effect of this is short raining  season will be highly minimized through the used of appropriate varieties.

 IAR has sorghum, maize (cowpea) Beans, cotton and groundnut. In this season, its advised farmers to ensured that they don’t  go for long season varieties otherwise if the prediction comes true, there is the likelihood that the effect of drought will be felt most especially in the area of reduced  harvest.

The extension agents are aging in Nigeria which is true that farmers no longer  enjoyed the comfort of the optimum number of the extension workers. It is the  rural areas that use to have many of the  state government but unfortunately, they have not replaced their extension agents.

Extension is the sole responsibility of state and local government but unfortunately, in recent years research institutes have  adopted the use of technology to disseminate their information through which the institute interact with the farmers inorder to know what it takes and is expected of them (farmers).

The institute has also developed a farmer help line in which they disseminate  informations in a very plain language  understandable by the farmers also to  interact with their technology  dissemination through farmers  organization such as All Farmers  Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and Commodity  Marketers, Growers Association in order to  disseminate the available information to  them for better understanding of what is expected of the farmers, in addition to bring in new technologies hoping that  farmers will promote agricultural technology. There are approaches that is  hoped  will be most sustainable over the years in helping farmers to boost their agricultural productions.

It is, therefore, very important to call on our states and local governments to please  invest in the recruitment and training of  extension agents for testing and  dissemination of new technologies to  farmers for better agricultural yields in the country.

There is the need to do direct modification for the farmers from the grassroots closer to  them along the line of the farmer  associations

The farmers need to be held responsible  for what they do by not opening offices that are not enough to have the  intervention which have been the desired them  effect the designed expected by the  government.

In my opinion, one of the ways that slow  down this is in theory. What has been put in place is ok in each cluster so that they will   have a leader and each leader, there will  be another anchor person on top in a state  and likewise. For the bureaucracy of  arranging this together without preparing  early enough, the preparations start too  late so that the procurement arrive sometimes around  August and by that  time the raining season has gone far and  it will be okay for poultry.  

The global crisis which is heading the production by farmers, there are many  physical and biological problems that  conventional times have not been able to  provide any answers to. There are diseases of crops  for which except the use of harmful insecticides that cannot control the diseases and insects, while there is new emerging science, the cutting age science refers to as  biotechnology they have  answers to some of these and IAR, just  like the Federal Government of Nigeria  believes in the potentials of this  modern  science called biotechnology  through  genetic engineering, the institute as a committed scientific with facilities and  laboratories to see that Nigeria’s farming  problems are curtailed through the deployment of modern scientists and the  use of scientific approaches. IAR  has  developed a new variety that is resistant  to that.

The institute has used scientific research  to develop maize varieties that have   high potentials to tolerate drought and  also resist insect called Fall Army Worm  which  about  five years  ago, almost  destroyed the maize industry in the  country.

IAR is on the verge of releasing a variety  that has resistance to the Fall Army Worm that farmers don’t have to spread  insecticide in the genetic improvement that can cause cancer, the  answer is the chemical. Why is it that  Europeans are rejecting Nigerian beans? It is  because they discovered that there is  ruminant of chemical in it they had never  rejected Nigerian beans before that time,  which gives the natural ability to stand the  condition.

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