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Researchers discuss ways to boost agricultural extension

Researchers discuss ways to boost agricultural extension

Researchers, academics and policy makers from West Africa have met in Accra to discuss ways to boost agricultural extension programmes in the sub-region.

The meeting provided a platform for the participants to assess the role stakeholders play, as well as re-draw plans regarding ownership and sustainability of funds from the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) programme.

The two-day event was organised by the SAFE.

SAFE programme

The SAFE programme, which was established in 1992, partners 14 universities and colleges, including the University of Cape Coast. 

The programme is being implemented in nine countries with the aim of providing practical agricultural extension courses in universities.

The alumni of the programme in Ghana now exceed 800, with a membership of 3,000 in the nine countries in which it operates.

In his keynote address to open the workshop, the President of the Presbyterian University College, Ghana, Professor Emmanuel Addo Obeng, urged African governments to make more funds available for agriculture.

“Laws that will ensure that extension officers are attached to farms across the country must be enacted if there must be growth in agriculture,” he said.

He also called for the active involvement of interest groups in agricultural extension, since it was a crucial element in enhancing food production.

Prof. Obeng said in order that the delivery of agricultural extension programmes would remain sustainable, stakeholders in the various countries should work at owning the SAFE programme.

Challenges

He said education in agricultural extension  was largely neglected in Africa and that posed a key challenge to the growth of the sector, particularly in the West-African sub-region.

The Director of Extension Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr Kwame Amezah, said the contribution that SAFE had made to agriculture in the country was evident for all to see.

“The SAFE programme has had a positive impact on agriculture ever since it was established in the country,” he said. 

Addressing the meeting, the Managing Director of SAFE, Dr Deola Naibakelao, said  the workshop had become necessary because of the need to discuss the roles key stakeholders had to play in the programme.

 

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