AN OVERVIEW OF THE AGRICULTURAL

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (ADPs)

SYSTEM IN NIGERIA: PERFORMANCE
AND CHALLENGES
PRESENTED AT THE YEAR 2022 NATIONAL
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEVELOPMENT AND
COORDINATION COMMITTEE (NAEDC) WORKSHOP,
ORGANIZED BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT HOLDING
BETWEEN THE 11TH AND 12TH AUGUST 2022 AT,
LAFIA, NASARAWA STATE.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The ADPs, since their establishment in Nigeria, through a
tripartite agreement involving World Bank, Federal
Government and the State Governments and through the
Training & Visit (T & V) extension system approach and
the Unified Agric. Extension System (UAES) largely in
use, have done extremely well in achieving the general
objective of providing support to small scale famers
towards increased agricultural production to enhance their
standard of living and their economic well-being.
 The ADP system have been able to do these
through her well organized agricultural extension
system which integrates extension workers training
and farm visits and other activities that ensure two-
way communication between research, extension
and farmers. Complementing this is the autonomous
ADP Management Unit, only under the supervision
of the Agricultural Development Project Executive
Committee (ADPEC).
 This was a flexible system, devoid of the usual
public service bureaucratic procedures with its
attendant bottlenecks which heavily assisted the
management to promptly take management decisions
in keeping with the demands for timeliness in
agricultural operation.
 Similarly, in place was an effective farm inputs distribution
system which operates through a network of Farm Service
Centres (FSC) which are in close proximity to farmers farms
to supply reliable/original and affordable needed farm inputs,
construction of rural feeder roads to assist with farm produce
evacuation, especially when fund from the World Bank and
other project funds were available.
A rigorous monitoring and evaluation system that provides
needed management information and ensures that errors are
minimized, has also being of great assistance.
2.0 PERFORMANCE OF THE ADP SYSTEM
 No doubt, the ADPs have been able to make remarkable
achievements from the time of their establishment up to
1996, the time that the World Bank’s fund was available
and when the Federal and State Governments were
paying their Counterpart Funds and beyond 1996 when
the World Bank’s fund and other major sources of funds
from Development Partners and Donor Agencies have
stopped or drastically reduced.
 The ADPs have specific objectives which
they strive to achieve and on which they
are often assessed/rated. These objectives
include, among others;
 Provision of extension / advisory services
and trainings to farmers and processors
and other critical players along the value
chains of all agricultural commodities.
Liaising with Research Institutes on improved and
recommended practices for dissemination to
farmers/processors and providing their field problems to
Researchers for further research work.
Production, processing and distribution of seeds and
seedlings of improved varieties of crops, day old chicks,
hatch able eggs, fish fingerlings to farmers.
Collaborative development of agro-processing facilities
to enhance produce value addition, preservation and
storage and small irrigation agriculture.
Formation and development of viable
farmers/processors group.
Conduct of studies and surveys for use of
the State and in close collaboration with
other institutions/ universities/ individuals,
etc.
Improving crop (rain fed and dry season),
agro-forestry and land management, fish
and livestock (poultry, rabbit, sheep and
goats) production technologies via conduct
of trials and demonstrations.
Provision of liaison services to facilitate
credit assistance to small scale
farmers/processors.
 In specific terms, the ADPs in keeping with their specific
objectives, have performed creditably well in the following
areas;
A. Several advisory visits have been made to Farmers,
Schools and their farms by the Extension Agents of ADPs to
disseminate production technologies to them. This is done
after attending the Fortnightly Training (FNT) sessions where
their professional knowledge is continually upgraded and
updated by the Subject Matter Specialists who are similarly
trained at the Monthly Technology Review Meetings
(MTRMs).
B. Conduct of several trainings for farmers all over the
Country in all the sub components of agriculture (Crop
Production, Livestock Production, Fisheries Production,
Agroforestry & Land Management, Agro Processing & Value
Addition, etc.).
C. Establishment of Demonstration Plots (Small Plot
Adoption Techniques and Management Training Plot) on
farmers’ farms and the follow up Field Days, to train them on
“what to do” and “how to do it” and eventually encourage
them to adopt newly developed technologies to increase their
D. Under the extension communication support, several
radio and television programmes were produced and
aired on many Radio and Television Stations in the
Country. This has been used to complement the roles of
EAs in the dissemination of improved technologies to
farmers. Leaflets, Bulletins and Posters have also been
used to disseminate information to farmers.
E. Conduct of On- Farm Adaptive Research (OFAR) and
Collaborative trials to confirm suitability and adaptability of
production technologies, including newly developed crop varieties
to the various agro ecologies of the Country and in all the sub
sectors of agriculture. Impacts of the results of the trials include the
adoption and use of new varieties of crops which are high yielding,
early maturing and disease & pest tolerant such as Maize- SUWAN-
I-SR, Cassava- TME 419, Rice- FARO 44, FARO 52, to mention a
few.
F. Attendance of Research Extension Farmer Linkage
System (REFILS) workshop, a forum where Research
Scientists, Extension Service Providers, Farmers, Input
Dealers, Fabricators, etc., interacts on the regional
agricultural development organized. Research results are
presented by the various Research Institutes at the
workshop for uptake and dissemination by the ADPs.
ADPs have significantly propelled the accessibility of
famers to credit facilities for their production activities in
Nigeria.
G. Production of seeds and seedlings of improved
varieties of crops, day old chicks, hatch able eggs, fish
fingerlings to farmers.
H. Mobilization, formation and organization of
farmers into viable groups for effective participation
in various agricultural programmes and maximization
of access to available facilities and their direction to
reputable sources of quality agro chemicals, to
purchase their needed inputs in order to increase their
overall production, incomes and improve their
welfare.
I. Several kilometres of road were constructed and rehabilitated by
the ADPs.
J. Water points (earth dams, tube wells, wash bores and boreholes)
were constructed.
K. ADPs have significantly increased the provision of farm inputs
for farmers for their farming activities. Even when many States
established their Agricultural Input Supply
Companies/Agency/Projects from the ADPs Commercial Services
Department particularly after the exit of the World Bank, the
Agricultural Input Supply entities continue to rely heavily on the
recommendations of the ADPs for the type of farm inputs to
procure and distribute and when to do so.
L. Due to the fact that the ADP system has a strong
institutional arrangement, many special agricultural
projects/programme, funded by Donor Agencies,
Development Partners and Non- Governmental
Organization, have been implemented at the grass root
level through the ADPs.
Such projects include;
National Agricultural Technology Support
Project/Facility (NATSF)
Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP).
National Fadama Development Project (NFDP),
National Fadama II Project, Fadama III – AF and
Component IV of National Fadama III Project.
FAO Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS)
and National Programme for Food Security
(NPFS).
States/IFAD/FGN Community Based Natural
Resources Management Project (CBNRMP).
IFAD Commodity Value Chain Development
JICA Livelihood Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment
Promotion (SHEP) Nigeria Project
UNDP-GEF Project - Agroforestry, Erosion Control, etc.
IFAD - CASP for Agriculture and Climate Change
Adoption
GIZ Casanova’s Project.
Sasakawa Global 2000 Sasakawa Africa Association
Project.
German International Cooperation (GIZ) - Skills Development
for Youth Employment (SKYE) Training Programme.
M. Collaboration with the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) to select farmers who
were provided with inputs (seeds, fertilizer, knapsack
sprayers, Agro – chemical) to flood affected farmers
in 2020.
N. Collaboration with Research Institutes in the
Country in the conduct of field days, wet & dry
season evaluations, conduct of demonstrations for
farmers on newly developed agricultural
technologies, distribution of extension publications,
such as bulletins, production guides, leaflets, etc.
 One of the very important impart/performance of
the ADPs, if not the most important, has been in
human resource development. Different State
Governments rely heavily on the very experience and
well trained staff of the ADP when making huge
investment in agriculture in a bid to enhance food
security and create employment for her people.
 Similarly, many special projects are now
relying on the wealth of experience of the staff of
ADP in assisting them to implement some of the
project’s activities on the field. One of such
projects is the NG-CARES. This particular
situation, even though helpful to some extent, is
now becoming worrisome as the core
mandates/activities of the ADP is seriously been
affected.
 The Federal Ministry of Agriculture &
Rural Development (FMARD) has
collaborated very heavily with all the ADPs
in Nigeria in implementing the Ministry’s
activities and tremendous achievement have
been made under this collaboration.
 We will not forget very quickly,
working materials/ motor cycles/ carts
motor bike, etc., provided for Extension
Agents; trainings of Extension Officers
on Extension Tools and Methodology,
Crop, Fisheries/Aquaculture, Livestock
Value Chains, Agro processing, etc.,
conducted;
N- Power Agro Beneficiaries deployed to
the State ADPs to assist in the extension
services provision to farmers on the field;
Materials (seeds, fertilizers,
agrochemicals) and several harvesting and
processing materials distributed to
farmers across locations in the Country, to
mention a few.
 It is on this note that all of us in
the ADP system appreciate, very
deeply the FMARD for her
intervention in the on-going process
of revitalizing, reenergizing,
reinvigorating the ADPs.
3.0 CHALLENGES OF THE ADP SYSTEM
The ADPs have been bedevilled with lots of
challenges/constraints in carrying out their
mandates, particularly after the cessation of
assistance by the World Bank. The following
remain the teething challenges of the ADPs in
Nigeria;
Poor/Inadequate funds (for payment of motor cycle
allowances of EAs, conduct of trainings, etc.).
Inadequate staffing. The number of extension agents
in the State ADPs has been diminishing over the
years because most of the State Governments could
not recruit new extension agents for the ADP despite
the dire need, again due to inadequate funds
available to them. This has resulted into low ratio of
extension staff to farm families in most States.
 Inadequate mobility. The mobility of field personnel has been
greatly impaired and extension officers’ visits to farmers has
become irregular. This is because a lot of the vehicles and
motorcycles has broken down or spoilt, and could not be
maintained or replaced.
 Weak linkages between agricultural research and extension
because most ADPs could no longer regularly conduct the
Monthly Technology Review Meetings (MTRM) or the
Quarterly Technology Review Meetings (QTRM), as the case
may be. The quality of trainings for Subject Matter Specialists
and the Extension Agents in turn, have therefore become very
poor.
Lack of training gadgets such as digital
projector, camera and computers.
Non-support to extension agents on working
materials and e-extension tool availability.
The insecurity situation is affecting to a great
extent the effective implementation of
extension activities since the situation
escalated.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The ADP system remains the most tested and most viable
Extension Development Initiative in Nigeria.
In fact, we can confidently say that farmers’ situations have
tremendously improved in Nigeria since inception of the ADP
system compared with the period before the establishment of the
ADPs.
Even though, the situation (funding, staff, working materials,
etc.) of the ADPs has not been too palatable in majority of the
States, we still keep our heads above water and continued to show
resilience and doggedness in the discharge of our duties.
 Based on above performance of the
ADPs (Extension arm of the States
Ministries of Agriculture) thus far, the
Extension family should ensure the
sustenance of the system under any
name, mode, modification, shade.
Thank you all for
listening.