A farm management consultant, Mr. Akin Alabi, has identified poor communication among agricultural researchers, extension agents, farmers, and other stakeholders as a major hindrance to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
Alabi, also a Co-Founder, Corporate Farmers International (CFI) and author of the Rise of Digital Agriculture, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
According to him, lots of farmers, especially youths, suffer a lot due to lack of information and not seeking the right knowledge which usually results 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 to 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.
“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.
“Proper communication between researchers, extension workers, farmers, students, and different players in the value chain, will help to strengthen and develop the sector,” he said.
Alabi said that the agriculture ecosystem was evolving and technological advancements were making communication easier.
“In recent times, the agriculture space has evolving and technology is helping to make communications easier with the use of ICTs, which are tools for communication, either through the internet, mobile phones, e-learning platforms.
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“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.
