Agriculture in Nigeria is tilted to be the next pot of gold. Hence the massive rush of youths and entrepreneurs into the sector that was once the mainstay of our economy. The thought that seem not to get off my mind however is the neglect of the existing farmers in the new pursuit of this treasure. Often times we hear of entrepreneurs invest so much into farming and raising livestock, this is a good development in ensuring food security. Of the over 180million Nigerians, about 40million are involved in agriculture, thus making it the largest employer of labour. However, over 85% of this population are currently smallholders meaning farming is being done on a very small scale with little mechanization process. In a 2017 report of the world bank group on enabling the business of agriculture, it was stated that for every 10000hectares of land cultivated in OECD countries, there are 1300 tractors used compared with 2.24 in sub Saharan Africa. Currently, there are countless programs undertaken by the federal ministry of agrculture and rural development to better the lot of rural farmers but this has in no way showed signs of progress in the livelihoods of these people. Then it got me thinking what the actual problem could be. Well, unlike most supporters of agribusiness who provide rural farmers with finance in cash, I do believe there are better ways to put money into use other than providing physical cash to these farmers. First we need to understand there is a big knowledge gap that needs to be filled in the existing agricultural practices of these farmers. Acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills has been a major problem. These farmers would rather stick with their obsolete practices than try out something they are not sure would work. They need proofs that modern practice is the way to go and this can only be done by demonstrating to them what works. This in essence is the reason why extension workers exist; to bridge the knowledge gap and translate the research findings from shelf to field. However in the nigerian space, these people are almost non existent, the few available ones lack the necessary resources to work with and are skills deficient. In the developed nations, technology has been adopted to fill in the roles of these people but with the low literacy rate and internet penetration in rural areas of Nigeria, it's difficult to adopt such. Hence there's the need to reach out to these farmers physically more often and youths have a huge part to play in this. A more efficient and cost effective way has however been discovered to reach these people. To be continued.

One discussion I've never heard on the agriculture section is provision of extension services. People talk about organising trainings, seminars, workshops and demonstrations for existing and prospective farmers. I strongly believe we need to start focusing on how to make the existing structure work. This might involve modifications and elimination of some practices but all in all extension is ever going to be key to agricultural development. I do need people who might be interested to express their interest in this value chain. You can make money from it as well but it requires strong determination and hardwork.

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