Nigerian Tribu ne
15 Tuesday, 14 June. 201 1
I?ay: ,agro-input _dealers stormed Ibadan for certificatio As part of continuous eHorts to make Nigeria a food-suJ{jdent natjon, as well as ensure that those who handle agro-inputs should be able to give professionals advice to practising farmers on their uses, a capacity building workshop was recently organised for agro-input dealers in the SouthWest zone of the country. The tilree-day programme, held in the auditorium of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) at Oke-Ado, Ibadan" Dyo State, was organised by the West Agro-Input Dealers Association (WAlDA), International Centre for Soil Fertility Development Centre (lFDA), and Nigeria Agro-DeaJers Support Project (NAS), and funded by the The Alliance For Green Revolution In Africa (ACRA). Seye A de niy i engaged some agrirultural experts and partidpants at this training workshop on how they want to make use of the acquired knowledge. Their views are presented below:
'We'll sanitise Ogunpa market of fake 'We're dealers'
to achieve food security'
Some of the re ason s fo r organising the works hop was to transfer needed knowledge to inpu t dealers in the country and to make the m professionals in their bus iness because I\"e knuw how important they are in the development of the nation's agricultu ra l 5e(:tor. 11 is also on record that we have trai ned over 200 out of the 425 agroinput dealers in the South-West un· der the banner of WA lbA .
Efforts of s takeholders to cu.rb quacJcery in the profes -
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ShOU'd be noted that one or the components ( 1r the Nigcri .. Agn>-In puls Deniers pport Pm;cct (NAS) is regu lar capacity build ing for agro-i npu t dealers. This year's programme was <llso a milke-up training for thO!e w ho rece ntl y joined WAlDA and two types of certificates wcre issued to deserving l'!gro-input dealers. · Reasons for the lraming - We want to gt!t members certi fied w ith approval fro m releva nt s takeholders and i'l uthorities ;n Nigeria. Tile rele\'i,"t s takeholders and a uthorities tha t partne r wil h 115 include; Cropli fe, Na tional Agency fo r Food. Drugs, Admin istration a nd Con try l (NAFDAC). Na tiona l Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Nigeria AgroInpu t Dealers Support ProjC'Ct (NAS) and the programme was sponsored by th~ Allia nce for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). We ( IFDC) im p leme nted the capac ity building programme to help agro--dea lcrs as well as practising famlers in the count ry.
sion? - Yes, we know that there are q uacks. nol on ly in ag ro·input .sector, but also in many other professions. This is one of the reasons a prog ramm e like thi s was o rga nised . AP.1rt from tr.lining meml.Jersoo safe methods o f handling agro-chemicals, strnlt'gies 10 adopt to prevenl haz.-uds. etc. \~ also decided to p.lrtner with re!e\'ant agencies like NAfDJ\ C and CropUfe ( the only recognised a.:ga.nis.11ion saddled wilh the rcsponsibilitil'S of importing chemiCills into Nigeria) and other African countries in order to curb the activities 0( fake input dealers in the country. However, from now on, ilny inp u t dea ler w it ho u t adequa te knowledge and recogn ised ce rt i fi~ ca lc wou ld not be able to practise the profession. Let fake and unreg· istered input dealers in the S/West· ern o f the country try us a nd see what w ill happen. From now on. iI's going to be wa r agains t them, eye for eye. tooth for toot h .~
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Mr. Abdulmojeed Dabiri,
the Project Leader, International Centre for Soi l Fertil ity DC\'elopment Centre (tFDC).
'We're dealing with dangerous chemicals, so...' INCE we are dealing wi th dan-
.... ".'ou, chemicals. then we need __ ~"":;c:",-",,,,,~,,--cocn,-Ic.oc._"-,IO.:,
handle them In order to preve nt hazards. Howc\'er, with official ap proval from agencies like CropLife. NAFOAC. Nationa l Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) a nd Nigeria Agro-Input Dealers Support Project (N AS), we I1 re n ow betle r equi pped to tra in farme rs on how to achie \'e a bumper ha rves t wit!' the use of a ppro pria te inputs. Also wUh the trai ning, we are now able to d ifferentiate between fake a nd reg istered ag ro-input d ealers in the country,. Honestly, it is a laudable and comme ndable initiative.
- Evan8elist Ayoade an agra-inp ut Adu.rogbangba" dealer f rom Sald, Oyo State.
any ventu re to s ucceed in life. regular training should not be relegated to the b.1Ckground. Since cap."ldty building I:<l also a major component o f NAS, that is why we're tra ining agro-inpu t dealers in the coun try on bu~h1PS5 man.lgement and how to ron a day-to-day acth'ities of their bus iness. 'llC)' also ~ived tminingon rttord keeping. steps to take to access loans in banks; how 10 usc fertilisers {both or· ga nic and inorg:mic) and co nsequences of wrong applica tion of agro
chemicals. Agro-i nput dealers ,,'e re also trained on identification ul seeds, whidl is different from gra ins. and why they should buy only (\uality, certified seeds if they want to ha\'ebumpcr harvest only s uch seeds can would guarantee food sufficiency for the nation, if crop wi\Stages is also rurbed. TIlIlSC who retth'4!d the tmining can now beat UlCir dlCSts in the area of Crop protection and Products storage (Crr). as well as types of chemicals to use to protect plants on the field and dwing storage. In fad. we are adding \'alues to our famlCfS and most ul our mernbcrs in WAlDA are no longerillilcriite. We also felt thatlhisisonedthc w3YSIO IJclp the government toac:hiel."t' food ~ runty.a rnajof ~ of ti'!e Federal Qr.'t!fTlnlCl1!. In conclusion. by this rt>gular training. we ha\'e been able to maintain an impres-sive sanity among agro--input dealers and many of them are now a! rl ified members, unlike what used to be in the past when e\'erybody was doing what he /she li ked. Above all, our joy is lhat many agro-input dealers in the country are now impacting neccssMY and adequate knowledge ilnd info rmatio n on practising farmers.
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Paul Sunday-Ogidi TrainingSpecial-
is(,. IFOC/ NAS
'Farmers visit us more than agric experts' IE trnining progrnml1lC is a welcome de\'Clopment and should be a continous ex-
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ercise.
It has gone a long wa), to improve and u pda te our knowledge in the agro-input sector of the na tions' agricultural sector. We are now like teachers to many farmers because they often believe whatever info rmation we give them on ag ricu ltu ral p rac tices. Don't also forget tha t fa nners often visit us fo r advice even before they think of other profcssion.lls in the agricultural seelor. - Mr Ejioye Mathew, an agro-lnput
dealer from Ado-EJdti, Ekifi Slate.
my advice, even as a woman'
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' M a woman, bu t many farme rs respect my ad\·icc and counsel. This is d ue to Ule koow ledge I ha\'e on agrirulture. espedally on agro-inputs usage and how they could be used 011 farm to guarnnlee a bumper harvest. WA IDA/IFDC organised trainings for in· pu t dealers ha ve added va lues to us. They have positioned us on a very illlpurt3nt and s tra tegic platform as change agen ts in the na tion's agric ult ural sector, especially in ilchieving food security. - Mr6 Ra chlJel Okediran, a n jnput
dea ler (rom ErulVa, Iba rapa- East, Oyo S tate .