**To Employ 30,000 Extension Workers
By Ahmed Rahma
The federal government has approved the engagement of 30,000 graduates in agriculture extension services.
The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Mr Paul Ikonne, confirmed this during a chat with newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
He disclosed that the approval to engage the graduates was given by President Muhammadu Buhari and that the extension workers would be deployed across the country.
Mr Ikonne said the graduates would be trained in agriculture extension services, including the collection of soil samples and how to conduct soil tests.
He said, “Mr President has given the approval to engage over 30,000 graduates who would be engaged under the National Young Farmers Scheme.
“They will be trained intensively for two weeks on soil sample collection and soil tests, as well as other agriculture extension services.”
He added that the initiative was basically for graduates of agriculture and other related science courses, as participants would be given the required soil test kits and soil collection sample kits.
The NALDA helmsman said his agency would subsidise the amount to be paid by farmers for the service to be rendered by the extension workers.
According to him, only N500 would be required for any soil sample collected for testing, noting that to get good yields, farmers must understand the soil of their farms and the best way to plant the crops.
“We cannot achieve food security without understanding our soil, without getting our farmers to know what the soil requires.
“So, what the soil doctors will be doing is that they will go to every farmland to conduct soil tests first before any farming season in order to know what nutrient the various soils require and what type of fertiliser the crops will need,” he said.
