Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: Updates of National Farmers’ Helpline Centre "

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: Updates of National Farmers’ Helpline Centre

"Welcome to National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services National Farmers Helpline Centre...". This is the welcome reception for a caller of a GSM number 07034863961, which signifies the successful test running of the National Farmers Helpline Centre (NFHC) of National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. The centre can be called from any location in and outside Nigeria between the hours of 8:00 am to 6 am Nigerian time. NFHC is realization of a dream. A single call to the centre is capable of answering one or multiple questions on all aspects of agriculture. The call can also provide solution to several agricultural problems along the value chain.  When fully operational, NFHC can serve as agricultural data bank for policy makers, researchers, students and developmental agencies among many others. The centre is an effective tool for dissemination of relevant, useful and proven technologies to millions of Nigerian farmers on real-time basis. The test running of the NFHC is a milestone worth celebration by Nigerian farmers and indeed by all Nigerians as it opens window for providing effective extension delivery services.  How can NFHC assist farmers?

The main objective of NFHC is to provide guidance to farmers in four local languages (Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and English at the beginning) on all aspects of agriculture and allied subjects and the Services are to be accessible through all telephone networks 24/6, 365. In addition, it will provide information available at the NAERLS website for the Internet users. With local language speakers as call agents, it will be quite convenient for the farmers to convey their message and seek an appropriate response for their queries related to the farming techniques, processing and market information. In addition, NFHC is designed to work with relevant agencies such as NIMET to provide weather information and related agro-met advisory, disseminated on real-time. These services can facilitate the farmers in taking decisions on their day-to-day farm operations. Timely and accurate action on these operations ultimately helps the farmers in minimising losses due to weather variability. Agro-met advisory & weather forecast can also be provided to farmers through SMS Portal for Farmers.

Market information on the prices of agricultural commodities is another exciting and highly beneficial exercise to marketers, farmers and consumers. NAERLS is already dialoguing with NUVOS Agro, a private outfit, with network of experts who will provide price/market information and trade facilitating channels via the Agro farmer helpline. Callers will have access to commodity prices from over major 100 markets across the 26 states in Nigeria as well as access to buy and sell commodities

The journey to the current state of test running started six years ago when the consequences of inadequate and dearth of agricultural extension personnel in Nigeria became glaring and slowing down government efforts to boost agriculture. Currently, agricultural extension workers are employees of the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP) nationwide. The ADPs are solely owned by the States governments  and they are grossly underfunded and under staffed with the ratio of Extension Agent to farm families reaching to 1:7,000. For instance, the Annual Agricultural Performance Survey of 2014 revealed that the EA/farm families ratios for two selected states in the North and South were 1:8792, 1:8000, 1:7364 and 1:6075, respectively. The standard recommended ratio of EA/farm families is 1:500 with adequate funding for effective extension advisory service. This current situation of the ADPs has made it pertinent for the Federal Government through NAERLS to innovate an effective means of complementing the extension services of the ADPs at the states level. That was how NFHC was initiated to leverage on the use of ICT (web and telephone based system). The use of web and mobile phone has become so pervasive in all societies and work sectors, making the world to become a ‘global village’. These media are increasingly becoming a veritable instrument for transforming societies and their productivity including Nigerian rural families.

Before the initiation of NFHC, NAERLS-operated a similar system to NFHC called Question and Answered Service (NAQAS), which was supported by CTA. NAQAS was a successful venture and thus, served as a pilot project for the NFHC. For instance, in 2010 alone, more than 4,000 written requests for agricultural information were received and processed by the NAERLS-operated Question and Answered Service (NAQAS). Out of these requests, 2,218 were received for the last quarter of 2010 (Oct to December) alone. The various requests came from farmers, farmer groups, agricultural produce sellers, policy-makers in the agricultural sector, research scientists, and others interested stakeholders in the nation’s agricultural sector. Results of the National Annual Agricultural Performance Survey have shown that the information so sought and disseminated have had tremendous impact on food production, processing, storage and marketing nationwide. No doubt, NFHC is innovative strategy to efficiently serve the nation in areas of extension advisory services and it has come at a better time when the solution to the current economic recession lies with agriculture. Can NAERLS lead the NFHC venture to achieve the desired results?

NAERLS was initially named "Research Liaison Services". It grew out of the “Specialist Services” section of the then Northern Nigeria Ministry of Agriculture. With the transfer of Institute for Agricultural Research IAR in 1962 to Ahmadu Bello University, when the university was created it became imperative to establish an organ to provide a formal linkage between IAR and the then Ministry of Agriculture of Northern Nigeria to ensure that research results get to farmers in useful adoptable form. Thus, the Extension Research Liaison Section (ERLS) was created in 1963 within IAR. In 1975, the Ahmadu Bello University Council, in accordance with Statute 19, separated the ERLS from IAR and renamed it the Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (AERLS). Thus, AERLS, became an autonomous Institute within the Agricultural Complex of the University under the aegis of the then Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST), similar to the parent Institute, IAR. In 1987, some of the mandates of Research Institutes under the supervision of the then Federal Ministry of Science and Technology were reorganized to remove duplication and create synergy. In recognition of the then AERLS contribution to the successful extension support services in the Northern States of Nigeria, the Institute was given a national mandate which transformed it to National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) leading to the establishment of five zonal offices with each in the five Agro-ecological zones.

Presently, NAERLS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), while its staff are provided by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. This makes NAERLS to be one among few research centres with two supervisory bodies; FMARD and ABU. Surprisingly and pleasantly, there is no conflict of interests and the two bodies are achieving their goals through NAERLS activities. While FMARD is achieving agricultural extension policy and direction, ABU uses both the human resources and infrastructure for teaching, learning and community services. These tasks are accomplished because of the mission and mandate of NAERLS from 1987 to date.      

The NAERLS mission is to develop, collate, evaluate, disseminate agricultural technologies and conduct research in agricultural extension methodologies and policy, and provide leadership in capacity building of stakeholders to meeting the present and future agricultural development challenges of the country. The mandates are:

·      Advance the frontiers of Agricultural Extension Research and Services

·      Conduct Agricultural Assessment and provide feedbacks

·      Build the Capacity and Skill of key actors in Agricultural Extension Service

·      Plan, Coordinate, Monitor and Evaluate REFILS activities nation wide

·      Package and disseminate improved agricultural innovations to target users in Nigeria

·      Review and support the Extension activities of Agricultural Research Institutes

NAERLS is one of the few research Institutes with high caliber of human resources spanning the social sciences, agricultural engineering, animal science, food technology, veterinary sciences, agronomy, soil science, fisheries. At the end of 2016, NAERLS had nine professors, 46 PhD holders and several MSc graduates in all aspect of agricultural sciences and Mass communication. The Institute adopts a multidisciplinary approach to solving agricultural problems. It has six 6 offices, one located in each of the six agro-ecological zones of the country. It has more than 500 employees and well equipped to deliver its services to all the nooks and corners of Nigeria. When can Nigerians start to enjoy NFHC? (to be continued next week)