Agriculture
Cooperative Boss Calls For Reactivation Of ADPs, Others
L-R: Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu; Director-General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (Iita), Dr Nteranya Sanginga, and founder, Women Farmers Advancement Network (Wofan), Hajia Salamatu Garba, at the inaugural meeting of Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review Committee in Ibadan last Friday.
The president of the
Etche Farmers Cooperative Union, Mr Godwin Akandu has called on the Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture to reactivate the various Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP) across the state.
Akandu who bared his mind on the poor state of the ADPs in the state while speaking to The Tide in a telephone interview said the ugly development was detrimental to farming activities in the rural areas.
According to him, gone were the days when agric extention officers visited farmers to update them on modern farming techniques.
“When agricultural extention officers paid regular visits to farmers at the rural areas, it helped to increase their yield almost on yearly basis,” he said.
Akandu who is a renowned farmer also frowned at the poor state of the various agricultural units in the LGAs even as he called for proactive measures to make them functional.
He said the trend has negatively affected farming at the rural level as farmers no longer have access to fertilizers to boost production.