Farmers Receive Good Agronomic Training on Rice and Tomato

A training trainer workshop on Good Agronomic Practices (GAP) was conducted for selected lead farmers engaged in the tomato and rice value chain within the Bagwai and Kura agricultural clusters of Kano State. Also, GAP was conducted for selected lead women farmers in the home garden vegetable value chain within Kura and Bagwai local government agricultural clusters.

The training was part of the IFAD/SAPZ initiative aimed at improving farm productivity and value addition for key commodities in the region. The session was facilitated by experts from the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) Hult Nigeria, and Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) who shared their expertise through a series of technical presentations designed to enhance farmers’ knowledge of key aspects of the various value chain crops. The training was conducted in two sessions, theoretical and practical sessions

Demonstration Plots

Demonstration plots were established using the following approach:
• Identify and select suitable sites and locations for the demonstration plots, in consultation and collaboration with the target communities and beneficiaries, and based on the agronomic and environmental criteria.
• Provide and distribute the necessary inputs, materials, and services for the establishment and management of the demonstration plots, such as seeds, fertilizers, and agrochemicals.
• Implement and demonstrate good agricultural practices (GAP) and climate-smart technologies for rice and tomato production, such as improved varieties, timely planting, and water management.
• Organize and conduct field days and visits for the target communities and beneficiaries, as well as the partners and stakeholders, to showcase and disseminate the GAP and climate-smart technologies for rice and tomato production, and to facilitate the learning and adoption of the best practices and innovations.
Georeferencing of farmers’ plots: following the distribution of inputs to the one thousand beneficiaries, georeferencing of their farmland was initiated to identify the geo points of interest (GPS coordinates) to establish the farm boundaries and know the exact extent of their land.

Lessons Learned

The hands-on demonstrations and field-based training offered to farmers are more convincing than lectures and give them good confidence for adoption. Through practical experience, farmers learn techniques better; for example, rice cultivation necessitates good training on application rates. Farmers inappropriately use high levels of planting seed, given that only 25 kg is required for planting one hectare, while they have been using 75 kg. So educating farmers to be more efficient is very much required. Also, late input deliveries could hurt production while resistance to new practices is another challenge. Take tomato farmers, for instance, who were mostly accustomed to using traditional methods: many still prefer ground nurseries over perforated trays.

Communication must be simple and practical in farmers’ local languages for farmers to be engaged and retain knowledge. Many farmers are struggling to adopt proper techniques such as line transplanting and adequate spacing, which directly affect yield. Generally, the farmer organizations (FOs) are uphill tasks since they penetrate through poorly educated and elder members, therefore creating more barriers in effectively introducing modern methods. Hence, these issues must be integrated into the training for it to be called successful and adopted in a greater number.