The Federal Government has expressed its willingness to train agriculture extension officers and equip them with modern communication skills to assist the rural farmers.
Mrs Vivienne Bamgboye, the Head, Advisory Systems, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Bamgboye said that workshop was organised to improve the extension officers’ communication skill and to bridge the gap between rural farmers and modern agricultural techniques.
“What the visual facilitator does is to simplify the communication process into graphic, even illiterate that cannot read in English will understand graphic and drawing.
“The Synergos project called State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) is to narrow the gap between the state and federal agenda and develop the linkages between them for the benefit of the rural farmers.
“SPA has developed the capacity building of stakeholders involved and will step it down to the community’s farmers.
“The next plan is to boost research and development with a view to improve on the current system,” she said.
Also, Mr Idenyi Emmanuel, Community Development and Gender officer in Kogi Fadama office, a participant at the workshop, said that he has gained a lot from the training and the use of graphic to mobilise farmers into groups.
“It will help them to understand faster and feel the importance of the groups because many of them are illiterate but with the use of graphic to communicate, they will understand.
“This training is going to go a long way to make the farmers embrace and adopt new methods.
According to him, Fadama 111 Additional Financing (AF) is also partnering with Synergos due to the success recorded in cassava production in Kogi state to increase farmers’ income.
“The programme on waste-to-wealth is going on in the state and in collaboration with Synergos because a lot of cassava peel had been wasted in the past, but with SPA that will become things of the pass.
“Fadama’s farmers will be linked up with the Synergos and it will serve as added value and increase their income,’’ he said.
Mr Akpusugh Moses, Agric Extension Officer, Benue, and vasual facilitator said that graphic recording has helped them to learn how to transcribe or narrate a story using map, chart and hope to utilise the knowledge.
“Using of picture, chart, map and graphic generally to communicate with rural farmers, they will have a good understanding and follow our instruction as extension officer.
“The training will make our work easier and we will step down what we have learnt and going to learn to our communities and make them see agric as business instead of relying on government.
“Benue has a great chance to benefit from the training as a food basket of the nation, and it will solve food insecurity in the country,” he said.
Ms Laraba Yakubu, Extension Officer, Kaduna, said that the graphic facilitation and recording has really improved her view in graphic, saying that it would help in her professional.
“It will help me communicate with farmers when it comes to discussion, planning, educating them among others.
“The training has boosted my confident about talking and sharing ideas and my people will gain a lot because we are going to use graphic to illustrate to them.
“Using graphic will make the communication interesting to the rural farmers than sound which could be boring to them during talk show, sensitisation and enlightenment programme,’’ she said. (NAN)