Nigeria Agricultural Extension & Advisory Services

The Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services Activity (Extension Activity) is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND).
The Extension Activity is working to achieve the following two objectives:
*Build the capacity of private extension service providers to deliver extension and advisory services to increase the productivity, income, and nutritional status of two million smallholder farmers in its five target value chains of aquaculture, rice, maize, cowpea, and soybean.
*Strengthen linkages between agricultural research institutions, agro-allied companies, public and private extension providers, and agricultural value chain stakeholders.

The Extension Activity is collaborating with the Nigeria Agribusiness Register to leverage the virtual knowledge management platform of the Register as a means to disseminate extension messaging around identified Most Impactful Practices (MIPs) and facilitate access to current trends on crop production technologies for its target audiences. Such target audiences include smallholder farmers and MSMEs including agro-dealers, storage and aggregation companies, processors, traders, women- and youth- owned businesses. Below are some MIPs across the Extension Activity’s core value chains:

Proceedings of the Most Impactful Practices Validation Workshop

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) Foundation funded Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services Activity in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).

Mechanical Thresher as a Most Impactful Practice in Rice Production

Mechanical thresher reduces production costs and post-harvest loses in rice farming. Farmers gets better quality rice grains from their production with less grain damage. Mechanical threshing in rice farming encourages increase in production scale, thus creates job opportunities for women and youth.

Mechanized Land Preparation as a Most Impactful Practice in Soybean Production

The use of mechanized land preparation optimizes plant population, incorporates organic matter in the soil, reduces fertilizer requirement and makes farm maintenance easy. Mechanized land preparation increases productivity and incomes of soybean farmers.

Use of Improved Seeds as a Most Impactful Practice in Rice Production

The use of improved seed varieties in rice farming increases yield, and guarantees higher profitability leading to increased incomes for smallholder farmers. Improved seeds are more resistant to pests and diseases and have shorter gestation period.

Key Nutrition Messages

Good nutritional practices are essential for health, growth and vitality. Smallholder farmers are encouraged to adopt good nutritional practices in their daily lives to improve productivity and livelihoods of their households.

The Use of Juvenile as a Most Impactful Practice in Catfish Production

The use of juveniles against fingerlings in catfish production reduces the risks of mortality by 5-10% Reduced sorting and required labor, and time in observational visits to the pond Decreased time to maturity, leading to 3-4 production circles to table or smoking size respectively.