Kogi state government has solicited the assistance of Synergos Nigeria, an international non-governmental organisation in the training of agricultural extension agents to enable farmers under its Anchor Borrowers scheme access best agronomic practices.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Kehinde Oloruntoba, who made the call at the state partnership for agriculture’s Core Delivery Team (CDT) meeting on Friday in Lokoja, said one of the reasons agriculture had not fully actualised the economic diversification initiative of the federal government was the dearth of extension agents to guide farmers.
According to him, “We cannot pretend that all is well here. Our strategic partners should collaborate and spend money on tangible capacity building, especially for our extension workers that wouldimprove the production capacity of farmers.
“We have engaged 4,809 farmers in our Anchor Borrowers scheme for our rice production and they need extension agents to succeed; else, we will not get the desired results. Anybody that is coming to partner with us in the state should look at those areas,” he said.
The commissioner commended the Synergos intervention in the establishment of the waste-to-wealth project for the conversion of cassava peels to animal feeds, located at Ojapata in Ankpa local government Area.
He noted that the project was there for all to see and urged Synergos to pick one or more programmes of the state Agricultural Development Project (ADP) and support it for the benefit of the people.
In his response, Synergos Field Manager for Kogi, Benue and Kadunastates, Mr Victor Adejoh, said the company was collaborating with the state ADP in rice processing, using the mills recently procured by the state government.
