Vanguard July 8,2025

Agric research materials must leave shelves for food production, Onyekpere tells FG, others

ABUJA – THE Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, Tuesday, called on the Federal and State Governments on the need to urgently look inwards to use agricultural researches abandoned in the shelves to galvanize food production.

Onyekpere made the call at a two-day ‘National Workshop on Improving Visibility and Linkages between Agricultural Research Extension Services and Farming for Sustainable Food Value Chain in Nigeria’, which he questioned the rationale behind abandoning indigenous research outputs in favour of foreign imports, calling the move a disservice to Nigeria’s agricultural advancement.

Onyekpere also lamented the impact of poorly funded research institutes, which affects agricultural productivity.

He emphasized that research outcomes should not sit on shelves or remain in academic journals, but be translated into real-world solutions that meet the needs of farmers particularly the smallholder women farmers who are the backbone of Nigeria’s food system.

The Workshop was supported by Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) Nigeria, and CSJ collaborating with the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, ARCN, and the Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria, SWOFON, organised the Workshop.

He said: “Government can afford to do better but the important thing is, what is the value of producing results and letting it lie on the shelf? For instance, the National Center for Agricultural Mechanization has produced mini-tractors, weeders, harvesters, and threshers.

“We found out that we have so many research institutes that are publicly funded, from those in different crops to fisheries to animal husbandry but we have not had improved productivity, improved yield per hectare, and been able to tackle the prevalent pests and diseases across the nation and across so many crop value chains.

“What exactly are they doing, what are the innovations, what are the findings? And of course as we progress in this workshop you discover that there is a gap, there is a challenge, because the research institutes are doing tremendous good work. But that work is not getting into where it should go into to improve agriculture and to make sure they adopt good farming practices across the nation.”

He also said the workshop aims to bridge the gap between what the research institutes and smallholder farmers are doing vis-a-vis government interventions to proffer solutions to lack of agricultural productivity in Nigeria.

Earlier, the Country Director Heinrich Boell Foundation, Sophie von Knebel, in an address of welcome charged the Nigeria government to leverage on the challenges facing its agricultural system by leveraging on the opportunities and taking immediate, practical actions that can transform how knowledge is generated, shared, and applied.

Knebel called for solutions that are not only impactful but also implementable in the short term, and sustainable in the long run in the country.

“We gather here with a shared purpose: to ensure that research outcomes do not sit on shelves or remain in academic journals, but are translated into real-world solutions that meet the needs of farmers—particularly the smallholder women who are the backbone of our food systems.

“The challenges confronting Nigerian agriculture are well documented: limited access to finance, weak extension structures, poor adoption of research outputs, and a persistent disconnect between innovation and implementation.

“Yet within these challenges lie tremendous opportunities—opportunities to take immediate, practical actions that can transform how knowledge is generated, shared, and applied.

“As we work to close the gap between research and practice, let us commit to solutions that are not only impactful but also implementable in the short term, and sustainable in the long run – what we call the “low-hanging fruit”, she said.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, ARCN, Dr Abubakar Dabban, in paper titled ‘Agricultural Research, Training and Research, Training and Extension Services: How to make them Work for Small Scale Farmers in Nigeria’, said the Council came up with strategies including; Adoption of villages and schools: Addressing huge yield gaps between on-station and on-farm agricultural yields.

“ARCN established 578 AROCs so far. Agricultural Innovation Platforms: This is a channel for effective generation and diffusion of agricultural innovations in selected agricultural commodity value chains.

“The Agricultural Technology Transfer Centres (ARTTC): The ARTTC is a concept that is based on transfer of technology (TOT) to end-users and domesticated on a research institute sub-station.

“Community-based seed multiplication initiative: To alleviate the challenges of poor access to improved agricultural seeds, WAAPP implemented a community-based seed multiplication initiative with relevant stakeholders”, he said.

However, the ES called for increased funding of agricultural research in order “to meet the present and emerging challenges in the agricultural sector.

“Need for vibrant reward systems for researchers for innovations and linkage activities: Need for building the Innovative Capacity of researchers.”