FG ADVOCATES RESEARCH TO PROMOTE AGRIC DEVT

BY VICTORIA OJEME & CALEB AYANSINA
ABUJA -The Federal Government has said that for farmers to be empowered in the country, research in agriculture must be made to work for them.

President, Nigerian Agricultural Policy Research Network, NAPRNet, Prof. Eric Eboh, who made the observation at a symposium in Abuja, said this could be achieved by bridging the lingering gaps between agricultural research and policy making on one hand and agro-enterprises on the other.

'This is needed most in the agricultural sector whose economic potentials, have for a long time, been held down by policy inadequacies, institutional weaknesses and structural distortions,' he said.

Prof. Eboh said the expected success from the agricultural sector policies and plans 'cannot be achieved without getting right our research links with enterprise and without ensuring that public agricultural policies and agricultural spending decisions are informed and guided by good science.

'The proposed national agricultural research results vendor will connect systematically with the producers and users of the research.'