PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES IN NIGERIA


Research institution in Nigeria was founded during the colonial administration (1861-1950) IT passed through the periods of internal self-government (1951-1960) and had continue to grow up till date. During this period it was not policy oriented with it the British colonial government developed an implicit science and technology policy to support and guarantee the research institute.

            Agricultural research stations such as moor plantation, Ibadan, Umudike, Umulahia and Samanizaia were set up in the 1920s partly as a tool to support the supply of export crops.
            During the colonial period two forms of organizational structure for agricultural research emerged. Some department wad emerged to became ministries, while the second administered research in a regional frame (Oloyide 1981) After independence, a new research structure emerged this led to the establishment of research councils and hence research institutes. Four agricultural research institutes were established in 1964 and an additional 14 in 1975 (Adedipe, 1993).
            Today there are 18 public sector agricultural research institutes in Nigeria each with a specific mandate crop/commodity and field of activities to satisfy different agricultural needs.

THEIR MISSION
The institutions are poised to serve as centre of excellence for sustainable affordable, efficient and easily adopted technologies to enhance farm productivity and product utilization in Nigeria.
            Also to conduct research in various areas of Agriculture to enhance agricultural productivity, where by the research result are communicated to farmers through the extension officers.
            During the colonial Era the aim of government to establish Research institutes was to guarantee the production and supply of export crops such as cocoa, palm produce, groundnut, rubber, cotton e.t.c.

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Poor funding:  after the growth in 1060’s and 70s large financed by revenue from a booming oil sector of Nigerians agricultural research expenditure constructed sharply during 1980s, currently they are less than half the level that prevailed during the late 1970s (Pandey and Roseboom, 1997).
            Infact by 1977, funding had been cut by over 90% form what obtained in 1970 (sahib, Aliyu and Balushi 1997).
            Then research expenditure fell form 1.5% to 0.27% in 1991 (Pandy and Roseboom, 1997).
            So, activities of Nigeria institute have been seriously hindered by poor funding and lack of a functional collaborative mechanism between the institution and the industrial sector.
            Explaining the challenges facing these  research institute, the director general of RMRPC, Peter Onwulau is of the view that research institute in the country can not go into commercialization of research works because of lack of adequate funds. It is expected that SME will come to pick the research works from us but we find that most of the SME do not have the financial resources to go into mass production.
            Some of the industry e.g fruit juice industry with respect to packaging material and government fiscal polices among others as it has conducted survey on the production and processing of quality citrus.
            Borodo highlighted other factors as the general dischantment of manufacturers due to the lack of basic  infrastructure, high cost of production, inconsistencies in government polices, lack of record keeping, poor academic leadership poor government attitude to research poor dissemination of research result.

LACK OF TECHNOLOGY
            While some significant progress has been made in implementing agricultural research policy directives, the overall impact of agricultural research policy directives, the overall impact of agricultural research in generating yield enhancing and food generating technologies and building a vibrant rural economy has been limited (Shaib, et al 1997)
            This is probably mainly as a result of declines in research intensity ration in Nigeria.

PROSPECTS
Firstly, Government should inject adequate funds into research institutes and encourage industrial establishment to invest in scientific research and joint projects, in returning for equivalent tax reduction and other incentives, to make fund available for researcher so that they will have a better research results.
            Secondly, Nigeria government to focus on Education sector as a priority. Proper education will lead the nation to over come many problems and develop personalities.
            Thirdly, the individuals who invented machine or tools should be equipped with enough money to produce more. This money is not to be given to the institute because it will not reach the individual.
            If the nation will encourage individuals to develop their talents in this way, many people will bring up heir talents and the Nation will benefit.
            Meanwhile Adequate finance, well organized time, adequate record keeping, Good academic leadership, good government attitude to research, proper dissemination of research must have to be in place for the up keeping of research institutions in Nigerian

KEY RESEARCH BASED RECOMMENDATION
1.         Conduct frequent surveys to update information on agricultural stock profile and management practices in order to facilitate the planning of the institutions.
2.         Make research institutes in Nigeria more market-oriented.
3,         there should be more collaboration between research institutes in order to share research capacities and capabilities.
4.         Government should formulate a policy to channel a small percentage of industry’s profits to agricultural resources institution.
5.         Research institutes should set up staff exchange programmes.
6.         Research institutions should advertise their capabilities.
So, the successful application of scientific and technological research results has led to the emergence of new products, improved manufacturing processes, improved capacity utilization and establishment of new resources based industries.
Share on Google Plus

Declaimer - MARTINS LIBRARY

The publications and/or documents on this website are provided for general information purposes only. Your use of any of these sample documents is subjected to your own decision NB: Join our Social Media Network on Google Plus | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

READ RECENT UPDATES HERE