FG tasks government parastatals on agric research

The parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have been tasked on development of new products through research and development (R&D).

Akinwunmi Adesina, the agric minister, gave this charge recently at a meeting held with chairmen of boards and chief executives of parastatals, under the ministry. In a statement released by the ministry, the minister asked them to use viable technologies to develop products for commercialisation, instead of leaving them on the shelves.

Adesina directed them to have a compelling vision on how to achieve the mandates of their institutions in line with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the ministry, emphasising the need for research institutes and for all universities of agriculture to collaborate in R&D and production of annual R&D reports. He also urged them to observe the annual R&D week for the purpose of discussion and dissemination of reports on new developments and products.

He said: “If you can take our technologies to scale, from the scaling, you can find the amount needed and even convince donors to help.”

To enable his ministry keep track of the activities of the parastatals and make government initiatives very successful, Adesina directed all the parastatals, institutes and colleges of agriculture to submit quarterly reports to his office. The minister, however, pledged his readiness to devise a means of providing for more funding, to enable the parastatals and institutes deliver on their mandates.

Oluwole Aina, chairman, governing board of National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, who spoke on behalf of the Agric Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), called on government to consider timely funding for agriculture because it was a seasonal activity, saying funding should be made available when it would be useful to the farmer.