AGRICULTURE is an evolving sector which dwells on research to increase its productivity for the growth of the sector and also make the sector attractive to youths.
The National Agricultural Research Institutes over the years have been doing some researches which could be beneficial to the country’s agricultural sector, but regrettably, those researches ended up in the shelves of the Research Institutes.
The Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) is the coordinating body of all the Agriculture Research Institutes in the country.
Over the years, the ARCN had become dormant and have been unable to coordinate the research institutes effectively, and contributed little or none to the growth of agriculture in Nigeria.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development while harping on the need for effective Research Institutes, said “one of the fundamental problem facing the country is probably in the hidden activities of the research institutions and I know that most of the Research Institutes are underfunded as they have big buildings but lack funds for research”.
“Giving instance of a professor paid N500,000 monthly but is not given up to N200,000 for research yearly, and that is basically the truth. If we don’t move forward in that direction how do we progress? We as a government must examine what can be done”.
“We must rationalise Research Institutes and make it more cost effective and more productive if we are going to achieve our goal”.
In another occasion, the Minister said “we need to rationalize Research Institutes and make them more cost effective and more productive if we want to achieve what we want to achieve. I am a farmer; I know what it means to have good and bad seeds.”
Subsequently, in September 2019, the Minister appointed a Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Garba Hamidu Sharubutu as the Acting Executive Secretary of the ARCN, with the mandate to revitalize agricultural research in Nigeria.
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