Food security: VC advocates gender-responsive, technology-driven farming

Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, has urged government and agricultural stakeholders to prioritize climate-smart, digital and gender-responsive innovations in agricultural extension to tackle food insecurity in Nigeria.

He warned that climate change had begun to severely disrupt Nigeria’s rainy seasons, citing NAERLS reports showing erratic rainfall, drought, flooding and increasing pest attacks across states.

Prof. Ahmed said extension officers must remain “frontline defenders” by translating research into simple and usable climate-smart techniques such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture and drought-tolerant crop varieties.

The Vice Chancellor was speaking at the 2025 National Agricultural Extension Review and Planning Meeting organized by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) in Zaria.

He said the annual extension meeting should not be treated as a ceremonial event but as a strategic platform to examine challenges and adopt practical solutions that directly improve farmers’ productivity.

Ahmed further advocated affordable digital advisory systems in locally understood languages, improved rural internet access and training of extension workers as “digital intermediaries” capable of helping farmers apply data to real farming decisions.

He stressed that technology would only be impactful if women, youth and smallholder farmers could access and use it without barriers.

In his remarks, Prof. Yusuf Sani, Director of NAERLS, called for deeper reforms in the extension sector to address climate change, digital exclusion and gender gaps.

According to him, Nigeria lost more than ₦700 billion to flood-related crop damage in the past five years.

He said NAERLS was expanding climate-smart advisories, promoting resilient seeds and strengthening early-warning systems for farmers.

Also speaking, Dr. Abubakar Dabban, Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders to build an innovative, inclusive and climate-resilient extension system.

Dabban, represented by Prof. Ado Yusuf, Executive Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Zaria, commended NAERLS for sustaining the annual platform, describing it as crucial for reviewing extension performance and harmonising national agricultural activities.

Dabban outlined ARCN’s commitment to strengthening result-oriented research coordination, demand-driven innovations, climate-smart technologies, youth-friendly solutions and digital extension tools for improved food and nutrition security.

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