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  • Agric Building ESUT Agbani Main Campus Enugu. State

  • Agric Building ESUT Agbani Main Campus Enugu. State

About

BACKGROUND

The adage: “Knowledge is Power” can never be truer in the case of agriculture as compared to any other sector of the economy. Over the years, efforts have been made by governments and donor agencies to revive the agricultural sector in. Nigeria without much success. The major problem with past agricultural intervention has been the approach of implementing agriculture as a developmental program instead of a business. However there is a paradigm shift from perceiving agriculture as a development program to a multifaceted business with focus on food security and the agricultural value chain development. Also, global advancement in information and communication technologies has opened up various avenues for information dissemination to farmers. The application of these technologies in the agricultural sector ensures the fast tracking of national development and food security. Thus, it is against this backdrop that Agricultural Information and Communication Management becomes very much essential to the productivity of the sector.


Justification

Justification:

In the past two decades, there has been a burst of research activities in agriculture from Universities and Research Institutes. Innovations with the capacity to boost production and kick-start the economy have been discovered. Also, High yielding crop cultivars and improved cultural practices have been created to ensure increased productivity. However, the greatest undoing of all these inventions and innovations is the existence of a knowledge gap. These innovations do not reach the farmers. This is due to the total ineptitude of current channels of communication.

Inefficient information dissemination has been occasioned by improper content adaptation and issues of timing. Most of the farmers reside in the rural areas with low literacy rate. Innovations, when made available, are in English language, which is foreign and incomprehensible to these farmers. Media of correspondence such as the print (leaflets, newsletters, posters, etc.) are either penned in English language or in the vernacular. However, most of the farmers cannot read or write. When alternative means of communication such as radio programmes are utilized, the information is aired when the farmers are already in their farms. This can be as a result of prioritizing commercial interest ahead of the public/farmers' interests. The justification of this project is interminable. While it presents the challenges that have, for so many decades, crippled the agricultural sector, it demonstrates opportunities. The results of this project, is believed to, as well bring about an increase in the participation of Nigeria youth in agriculture towards employment generation, food security and sustainable development.

African Youth Rehabilitation Initiative (AYRI) has identified these prospects and thus in partnership with Enugu State University of Science and Technology developed an Agricultural Information Centre and Community Radio Project (AGRICCORP)

OVERRIDING GOAL

The overall goal of this project is to establish a Rural Agricultural Radio and Information Centers to serve the rural farm communities in each state across Nigeria.

The objectives of the projects are:


Provide the avenues for dissemination of information on innovative farm practices to serve the rural farm communities in the South East, Nigeria by bridging the gap between researchers, scientific institutions and the rural farmers.

Provide step by step guides to the adoption of new technologies.

Create rural and public awareness aimed at reversing the trend of environmental degradation and climate change due to unsustainable farm practices

Bridge the market information gap and ensure that farmers receive appropriate information on farm produce, value addition and market conditions.

Provide voice for farmers to air their views on successes, challenges and concerns.

Provide outreach platform aimed at sensitizing the youths on potentials in agribusiness.

Details

SCOPE OF OPERATION:


  1. Agricultural inputs procurements.
  2. Extension services delivery.
  3. Agricultural technology dissemination.
  4. Agricultural credit sourcing.
  5. Agricultural marketing information.
  6. Soil, climatic and weather information.
  7. Deploying information and communication. technologies for information dissemination to farmers in South East, Nigeria.
  8. Consultancy and Training.

Following core areas will be deployed:

Radio Broadcasting (applying Short Wave or Frequency Mode).

Internet facility for desk-based information search (cultural practices,market information, reporting on new diseases, processing hints and recipes).

Email portal for information sharing between information centers, on the one hand, and research institutions and universities on the other hand.

Satellite link for update on weather and ecology as well as related advisory services.

Fixed, wireless and mobile communication technologies that connect farmers to the market.

Hard materials available in comprehensible formats and languages (books, posters, brochures, etc).

Information Needs of Farmers

AGRICCORP has identified a range of information needs that will enable farmers achieve optimal productivity.

Fertilizer access and Information.

Information of Pests and Diseases Control.

Information on the availability of suitable planting materials.

Information on access to credits and loans by farmers.

Information on innovative cultural practices and weed control.

Soil Information System that captures land suitability data, soil erosion predisposition, and desertification.

Climatic and Weather Information dissemination.

Project Implementation

Enterprise Phase

The Enterprise-Level Installation phase creates the infrastructure necessary to support business decision-making based on schedule, resource, and cost information “rolled-up” from the entire portfolio of the project and transitions the day-to-day responsibility for developing and maintaining individual project plans to the AGRICCORP Project Office staff or franchisee.

Some key components of the enterprise phase include:

Building sustainability through business franchise models, linkages and collaboration.

Entrenching the project mission by positioning it as an information "clearing house".

Provision of a multi-lingual platform for agricultural information sharing and documentaries.

Youth and Gender Inclusion.

Mobile and Internet real-time update on market and weather information.

Project Maintenance Phase

The purpose of the Maintenance phase is to transit the responsibility for supporting all of the project management requirements of the organization to the franchisees and to ensure long-term continuity by establishing project monitoring and evaluation as AGRICCORP's core competency and essential function.