Expert Harps on Good Agricultural Practices for Improved Productivity of Farmers

Gilbert Ekugbe

A farm management consultant, Mr. Akin Alabi, has emphasised the need for farmers to be educated on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to boost their productivity.

Besides, many farmers in the country especially in the rural areas are yet to adopt GAP, as many of these farmers still depend on harmful chemicals to increase yields.

Alabi, who is also a Co-Founder, Corporate Farmers International (CFI) and author of the Rise of Digital Agriculture, during a chat with THISDAY, also identified poor communication among agricultural researchers, extension agents, farmers and other stakeholders as major bottlenecks to GAP.

He noted that a huge chunk of farmers, especially youths, suffer a lot due to a lack of information and not seeking the right knowledge which usually resulted in low yield of farm produce, low income and poor farm management practices.
“Poor access to agricultural information is a major barrier to rural farmers and communities adopting the best agricultural practices.

“A lot of farmers and youths suffer a lot due to lack of information and not seeking the right knowledge which usually results in low yield of farm produce, loss of money, wastage, improper farm management practice, and inability to access loans to scale up their agribusiness, among others,” he said.

“On the other hand, graduate students of higher institutions do not seem to find their direction in the agriculture space. This majorly is a problem that affects different cadres in agriculture space. Access to information should be made a priority in the agriculture industry,” he advised
He also recommended that proper communication between researchers, extension workers, farmers, students, and different players in the value chain, will also go a long way to help strengthen and develop the sector.

Alabi said the agriculture ecosystem was evolving and technological advancements were making communication easier.

“In recent times, the agriculture space is evolving and technology is helping to make communications easier with the use of ICT, which is a veritable tool for communication, either through internet, mobile phones, e-learning platforms.

Through this medium, students, agropreneurs and farmers can be trained and communicated to by industry experts, extension agents and researchers to have access to recent knowledge.