Readers Comments

Readers Comments

"Un petit pause", a French way of saying, it is a time to pause, relax and permit my esteemed readers to air their views on my previous articles. As usual, there are many reactions to my column and it is important to share such reactions in form of "Readers Comments" with general public. However, some of the comments have to be edited either for reason of space or clarity or both. Happy reading.

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: NAERLS Test Running Farmers National Helpline Centre

Dear Prof Othman

Permit me to congratulate National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) for the laudable innovation to serve the Nigerian Farmers. The National Farmers Helpline Centre is an efficient extension approach capable of improving agricultural productivity. However, I noted that NAERLS trained 400 unemployed youths  in AUGUST 2013 on behalf Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as agricultural extension facilitators. During and after the training, the impression or the intention was that the trainees were to be immediately employed after the training and be posted to their states of origin as extension facilitators. This was not done till the end of President Goodluck E. Jonathan. I however note the current effort of N-power and hope that the beneficiaries will receive the required training to perform.

 Dennis Terlumun Iorwua Gboko

Dear Prof M. K. Othman

National Farmers Helpline Centre is an innovative ICT infrastructure or information super highway that will launch agribusiness across the divide; and ease business with informed decision all round at real-time. It is certainly a giant achievement for the nation. With proper and effective utilization, agriculture productivity will be enhanced and the sector will attract investments within and across the globe. Congratulations NAERLS & Bravo to the Green Alternative of FMARD. We're getting it on course. We are eager to have the centre fully operational and accessible to all Nigerians on sustainable manner

Prof. Samson Aribido

Dear Prof Othman

It is very interesting to note that the NAERLS Farmers Helpline Centre will make market information (agricultural commodities, prices, etc) available to the farmers and traders of agric business. I am really an interested party, can you provide me with MARKET DAYS for Anchau, Soba, Tudun Saibu and Makarfi in Kaduna State, Dambatta, Gujungu and Maigatari in Jigawa state?

Mansir Shehu

Dear Othman

I write to congratulate you, M K Othman for a well written and informative articles, more grease to your elbows and keep the flag flying! Your article National farmers helpline Centre is a concise write up worthy of sharing out with the public. Thank you for your community service

Dr Danladi Ningi, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi

Dear Prof. Othman,

Let me once again commend you for your lucid and insightful contribution on the need and potential impact of the National Farmers Helpline on agricultural extension in the country. It goes without saying that bringing technology into the mix would extend the reach and capability of extension service providers as they struggle to close the human resource gap within the sector.

I however must raise some concerns as to the sustainability of the project as envisioned in the article viz. the desire to see it as a toll-free service to farmers. Apart from the prohibitive cost of providing regular information to over 15 million farming households free of charge, there comes the even more important question of long-term sustainability. There is no greater measure of value than payment for a service. If the primary consumer of a service is unable or unwilling to pay for a service, then the impact of the service becomes doubtful. While critical information on disease outbreaks and containment measures should be broadcast free to farmers (of course free in the sense that the receiving party is not paying for it), value-added advisory and market information should be paid for by the requesting party, the beneficiaries. In the foregoing scenario, the government would pay for information it wants to broadcast to farmers, while farmers would pay for information they desire to improve their yield and increase their income.

Further on the service sizing, a truly national farmers helpline servicing 15 million farmers a year would be taking about 170 simultaneous calls all day if it worked for 10 hours each day 300 days in the year at an average of 2 minutes per call, and that is only if each farmer calls once in a year! The sheer human resource requirements of manning the helpline means that employing a 2 tier approach to fielding calls is inevitable, with a primary well resourced, professionally manned helpline to field all calls at the first level and pass on calls that require more technical help to the secondary helpline manned by subject matter experts. Of course there is a real cost to having all these people sitting around answering calls from morning to night that obviously goes beyond tax relief to the service providers involved! Nigeria is a big country with tens of millions of farmers who may all wish to enjoy good services from the Helpline Centre.

Let me end by agreeing with you that it is important that this is a collaborative effort by all involved in providing extension information to farmers both in the public and private space. Putting all available knowledge on a common platform will not only enhance the quality of extension information received by the farmer but as well as drive down the cost and time associated with disseminating the information, making it a win-win for all involved. 

Regards

Chike Nwagwu,  Novus Agro, Lagos

Dear Prof M. K. Othman

Your Column "Breakthrough with Prof MK Othman" in Leadership Friday, our dependable Newspaper presents qualitative and educating articles to the general readership. Bravo Prof. and Congratulation for this wonderful effort.  Thank you

 Mohammed Bilyamini, Kano

Nigerian born Inventors, their Inventions, Challenges and Opportunities

Prof. Othman

Your 5 - series article on Nigerian Born Inventors, their Inventions, Challenges and Opportunities is a master piece that gives a vivid picture of untiring efforts of Nigerians in technological development. The article nicely showcased the innovation surge in Nigeria with three great examples of brave people. High caliber of Nigerian men and women with great potential to excel. I will be happy to contact them and support their developments internationally and bring their innovation to the global arena. I'm fully convinced that international focus will enrich inventors and facilitate Nigerian recognition worldwide. Thanks for sharing this article.

Regards from Spain. Fernando

Ahmadu Bello University Revolution in Seeds Technology

The efforts Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in the area of seed technology are commendable. In the same vein, a very big kudos to you sir (Prof. M.K Othman) for educating millions of people especially Nigerians on this very important revolution made in the history of Nigerian Agriculture. I think more avenues of information dissemination should be explored so that the target beneficiaries which are the peasant farmers would be kept abreast of this innovation. I must commend the Executive Governor of Gombe State, Alh. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo for endorsing the collaboration between the states' Ministry of Agriculture and the MDGs in order for unemployed graduates of different fields of Agriculture in the state to undergo intensive training in the specialized field of Agricultural Extension by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) A.B.U Zaria. This is an effort in the right direction and will in no small measure boost Agricultural production in Gombe State. We, the Graduate Trainees from Gombe State consider it a rare privilege to have you sir, and other Scholars from NAERLS ABU Zaria as our facilitators. Keep on the good work Prof.

Yusuf Ayuba Bishara, Extension Trainee, Gombe State.

Dear Prof Othman

You are right, my Professor, in saying the way forward for developing Agriculture "is the development, promotion and adoption of improved indigenous technologies that are suitable to our farming system". The honouroble Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe said a similar thing. He wanted all undergraduates to have some experience in agriculture regardless of their course of study. While his wish may have to undergo some professional consideration, it is a welcome suggestion that denotes awareness towards the crux of the matter. The next step is to encourage those that can actualize his intention at the government level to do so. Let's look inward for indigenous sustainable technology for solving our problem. -

Mansir Shehu, Zaria

Click to view the Newspaper version

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: NAERLS Test Running Farmers National Helpline Centre II

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: NAERLS Test Running Farmers National Helpline Centre II

My last note in the first part of this article was a question I asked "When can Nigerians start to enjoy National Farmers Helpline Centre (NFHC)?” The journey of NFHC to the present position was tortuous with several ups and downs but by dint of hard work and dedication, NAERLS was able to transform the NFHC from of mere conception of idea to the present reality. However, the journey of NFHC to its final destination where it can achieve its primary objective is not yet over. The primary objective of NFHC is to provide timely, relevant and proven information and advisory agricultural extension services to stakeholders in Nigerian agricultural industry. Such information and services will definitely facilitate decision-making of the agricultural value chain actors along the entire agricultural network with likely outputs of tripling the national productivity of the agricultural sector.  What are the necessary requirements for the centre to be fully operational and efficient?

In order to have an efficient and sustainable call center, NAERLS has to collaborate with relevant stakeholders in the area of capacity building and access to the research results of the National Agricultural research Institutes and centres. This is because the success of a call center largely depends on the technical skills of the personnel, robust and evidence based agricultural technologies at its disposal. High caliber human resources with vast experience on agricultural subjects and ICT are required to manage the centre as well as provide support to it. Therefore, the fundamental areas of capacity building for the NAERLS staff required are training of Call Agent/Subject Matter Specialist, Technical Support, training on Contact Centre Management, Content development and management. These trainings could be on-site or off-site with emphasis to integration of the ICT and agricultural knowledge based services. Thus, NAERLS has opened its doors for support and collaboration to achieve the desired results.

In the mean time, the centre has acquired the knowledge based software, a prerequisite for the content development and its successful operation. With a rich and wide range of agricultural extension publications, NAERLS specialists are assiduously working to digitize and populate the knowledge based software for use by the call agents. So far, thousands of pages of the content covering more than 80 agricultural commodities and practices have been developed. When the content is fully developed, call agents will be receiving calls from farmers, researchers, students and interested individuals on issues or problems in respect of their farming, marketing and processing as case may be. The call agents will look for the answers to the queries received from callers by keying in the appropriate "catchy" words in the knowledge based software, which promptly prop-ups the relevant answers from the content. These content development activities are number one priority for the smooth operation of the centre. It is imperative that other relevant stakeholders should come forward to help in the content development to facilitate the smooth take up. In addition to content development, software at NAERLS disposal was developed by private agency which has exclusive copy right, which limits the use of the software by NAERLS. Hence, it is desirable that NAERLS ICT personnel should be supported to develop their software for effective and sustainable utilization to serve the Nigerian population. This requires the support of public agencies such as National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Backbone Galaxy among others to rely round NAERLS for this important national assignment.

Another key priority is building the capacity of the call agents. NAERLS is starting with thirty call agents who are mostly graduates of agriculture sciences and engineering. Although, they have been working as agricultural extensionist, subject matter specialists and technologists but their new task of receiving and answering calls is daunting and challenging and thus, requires special training on contact/calls handling.

 The next in the list of priorities is the contact centre management training. The Information and Computer Technologies are evolving at exponential proportion.  In order to keep up with global trend and best practices in this area of information dissemination using call centre,  the call centre managers must be regularly and promptly trained on knowledge and practices regarding installation, management and maintenance skills of the centre equipment and services.

The next important task is the use of the short code to call the center. It is gratifying that the centre with strong facilitation of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) secured a short code from National Communication Commission as 1442 for usage by the callers. However, this short code is yet to be integrated into the country’s major GSM service providers (MTN, Airtel, Glo, etc) for easy access and cost effective to users. Although, efforts are on top gear for the short code integration but it is doubtful if the calls using the short code will be toll free services to farmers as revealed by the ongoing discussion at the stakeholders meeting. Some of the stakeholders are of the opinion that the calls should be charged for efficient and sustainable operation of the centre. The view of NAERLS experts is to have toll free call services using the short code, at least in the first two years of centre’s operation while charges should be shared among the GSM service providers as part of their corporate social responsibility. The government can help by providing incentives to the GMS service providers inform of tax relieve and provision of infrastructure or subsidy to the callers. This is most desirable and attractive to our massive peasant farmers.

Another important issue requiring effort is awareness creation of the centre services. Here, an intensive campaign using both electronic and print media is required to sensitize Nigerians on access to these phones and internet based agricultural advisory services. This certainly requires funds for reaching out to millions of Nigerian farmers to spread the news. Mass media can play key roles in this regard. 

How will the centre provide it’s services? The call centre is a two level interaction system which consists of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Human Response (HR). At the first level of interaction with the caller, an interactive voice will respond to caller, the system is designed to response in the five major communication media in Nigeria (English, pidgin, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba). The caller will choose the language he or she prefers to communicate. Then, there will be pre-recorded answers or responses on the specific questions of the agricultural commodity value chain using frequently ask questions (FAQ), questions and answers (Q&A) already catalogued from the previous NAQAS database. Where the needs or queries of the caller are met at this level, the communication ends. But where the caller’s needs/questions are not met or answered, he or she is transferred to an agent (help desk at the centre), who is a specialist in the area so concerned and proficient in the language of the enquirer. Meanwhile, all calls are recorded so as to enrich the database of the centre. There will be call escalation for cases unresolved or questions unanswered, the caller is profiled and stored on the system and later contacted or given toll-free access to the contact at the Centre. The call escalation will use the services of experts within NAERLS, other agricultural research centres or even outside Nigeria using the internet services or video conferencing tools. The centre can also use bulk Short Message Services (SMS) to send information millions of farmers on the thematic subjects, example information on weather, inputs, markets and early warning or advices as case may be. 

In conclusion, NFHC is being prepared to service millions of Nigerians and beyond. NAERLS, the custodian of the centre alongside her twin “mothers”; ABU Zaria and FMARD Abuja is tirelessly working to officially launch the centre and link it up with the regional centres at NCRI Badegi, IAR and T Ibadan, IAR Zaria and NRCRI Umudike for effective geographical coverage of the nation. Relevant stakeholders should not stay aloof, should join this bandwagon of making history for a better Nigeria.

Link for the Newspaper version in PDF

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: NAERLS Test Running Farmers National Helpline Centre

Peeping at the Nigerian Research and Development Centres: NAERLS Test Running Farmers National 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 Nigeria and beyond 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:

1. ·         Advance the frontiers of Agricultural Extension Research and Services
3. ·         Conduct Agricultural Assessment and provide feedbacks
5. ·         Build the Capacity and Skill of key actors in Agricultural Extension Service
7. ·         Plan, Coordinate, Monitor and Evaluate REFILS activities nation wide
9. ·         Package and disseminate improved agricultural innovations to target users in Nigeria
11. ·         Review and support the Extension activities of Agricultural Research Institutes

NAERLS is one of the few research Institutes in Nigeria 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)

Link to download the newspaper version