A Professor of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development in the College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Professor Olusegun Apantaku, has called on researchers to embark on truly participatory research and extension services.
Apantaku said that this would make their research findings and recommendations acceptable to farmers and other stakeholders. The university don stated this while disclosing his research findings on farmers’ participatory research and extension services, which have spanned a period of over 20 years.
According to him, researches in Nigeria and Africa in general were not always tailored towards the real needs of the farmers. Rather, the researchers, he said were involved in “Top-Down Approach” research, noting that although there were many excellent researcher in FUNAAB and in Nigeria, many usually came up with research ideas from their tables which they worked on and expected the farmers to adopt the results of their research.
Apantaku described farmers’ participatory research and extension services as the research that actively involved the farmers, right from the conception of ideas to the extension of the outcome, adding that sometimes, the researchers had to stay and live with the farmers for better interaction and understanding of their problems with a view to solving such problems.
He likened farmers’ participatory research to the American doctor-patient relationship, whereby the doctor would ‘clerk’ and ask the patient questions concerning his/ her health history and together they would agree on the best course of action.
According to the former dean of COLAMRUD, a researcher might have a good variety of crops that would have a very good yield, yet the farmer might not like it since the problem might be in the taste or ease of processing.
He noted that some yam hybrids may yield so much, but may not be good for pounding. The university don added that there were four key levels of participation by farmers, including contract participation, consultative participation, collaborative participation and the collegiate participation.
Speaking on participatory extension, Professor Apantaku said that after a research breakthrough, the extension worker would want to disseminate the information and technology to farmers.
He noted that it was better that the farmers were allowed to own or actively participate in the extension services, while the researcher or the extension worker stayed in the background, adding that even radio and television broadcasts should be done by the trained farmers for better result and adoption.
Apantaku lamented that the research grants received from foreign countries and donors did not allow researchers to conduct researches that were relevant to farmers’ needs. He said most of the researches were rather based on the dictates and needs of their sponsors, rendering their results unacceptable, notwithstanding their international relevance and quality.
The professor of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, therefore, called on the government to increase funding of research in the country so that researchers would not be at the mercy of international donors for sponsorship.
