By Livinus Nnebedum
The issue of professionalizing Agriculture and making it a strong National body should be the concern of all graduate of Agriculture in Nigeria. Agricultural professions must borrow a leaf from their counterparts in medicine, pharmacy, engineering, accountancy etc. Professions such as law have Nigeria Bar Association as their strong mouthpiece.
Other strong professional mouthpiece in Nigeria include Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria. These strong professional bodies have legal teeth and bark like bulldog and when they speak, Nigeria pay urgent attention.
Is there any strong national body binding all the professionals in the field of Agriculture in Nigeria? Some may say that we have Agricultural Society of Nigeria, but has this body any strong mouthpiece? Despite all the eminent personalities in the field of Agriculture, the profession is yet to have strong mouthpiece. Agriculture has suffered undue relegation in Nigeria as a professional career.
Graduates of Agriculture in Nigeria are not treated as professionals in the national economic agenda, not because they cannot hold their heads high. For instance, graduates of Agriculture in the civil service are placed on grade level below, for instance, their medical counterparts of the same qualifications. This may be because they don’t blow their trumpet loud enough. The well-coordinated and strong national body can make the trumpet sound louder.
No time is too late, we can start now, because the fact still remains that if we don’t have strong National Body, Agriculture would still be regarded as early man’s business in the eyes of the detractors. But thank God, today Agriculture is a lucrative business, noble and prestigious profession.
Many livestock farms fail in Nigeria because they are not managed by Agric professionals. This is not good for the Agric industry. By legislation it is possible to make it mandatory for investors in Agriculture to use graduates in Agriculture to establish and manage their farms. This would bring huge success and interest to the farm business.
Today many non-trained persons sell horticultural crops in all nooks and corners. They move around the villages carrying knap-sack sprayers and spraying plants against pests and diseases. They claim that they are Agric personnel. Many of these non-trained persons sell animal feeds, agro-chemicals, fertilizers, livestock drugs etc.
All these no-professionals carry out those activities because there is no strong national body in Agricultural profession. By law or legislature, these non-trained persons in the field of Agriculture should employ graduates of Agriculture for their professional expertise as it is done in pharmacy.
We have many eminent Agric professionals and may have the highest number of Research works and maybe highest number of conferences per year, but a strong National body should now be the focus of attention of all professionals in the field of Agriculture in Nigeria.
Livinus Nnebedum, Former Director in Anambra State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), writes from Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Anambra State.
livynnebedumadp@yahoo.com
Website: www.livinusnnebedum.com.ng
