An agricultural stakeholder has said lack of adequate extension agents is threatening the food security plan of the Federal and State Governments. Specifically, the Programme Manager, Cross River Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Mr Etim Bassey stated this during a media interaction in Calabar on Sunday. Speaking, Bassey warned that unless something urgent was done to address the situation, the impressive plans of governments at all levels to enhance food security might turn out to be only a wish. Furthermore, Bassey noted that the situation has degenerated to the level where some states, particularly in the South, operate a ratio of one extension agent to 7,000 farmers. His words: “This is against the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommendation of ratio one to 800 farmers. “In Cross River for instance, we have 60 extension agents servicing over 600,000 farm families and the last time an agent was employed in the state was in the 90s.” However, he pointed out that the depletion of extension agents was due to retirement and deaths, noting that a department, established in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to address the challenge, had not helped matters. According to him, lack or inadequate funds is a major challenge of ADPs in the country, saying the implementation of government agricultural policies would not yield the desired results if the ADP department was continually being bypassed. “ADP was set up to transfer technology to the farmers through demonstration and trials of agriculture value chains, it is regrettable that ADP is not being strengthened to do this. “If not for the Federal Government, ADP would have been history since 1995 when the World Bank hands off the programme. “Aside from the challenges of funds, infrastructure and mobility, the worst of it is that governments at all levels no longer use ADPs for the implications of their agricultural policies,” Bassey added.
