The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, CON, has commended the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) for undertaking a baseline assessment of agricultural research institutes across the country.
Abdullahi gave the commendation in Abuja at a Technical Roundtable Meeting on NADF’s proposed 2025/2026 interventions to strengthen agricultural research, improve soil health and promote evidence-based fertiliser application.
The Minister described the assessment as significant, noting that the last comprehensive review of infrastructure and facilities in the research institutes was conducted more than four decades ago.
“When NADF undertook this baseline assessment, I found it particularly significant. It is the first time such an assessment has been carried out comprehensively and I commend the Fund for doing a very good job,” he said.
He commended the Executive Secretary/CEO of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, for driving the initiative and urged stakeholders to move from assessment to implementation, with priority given to the six Zonal Coordinating Research Institutes and their reference laboratories.
According to him, the facilities would strengthen soil analysis, fertiliser recommendations, quality control, training, adaptive research and the development of regional soil databases.
Abdullahi also stressed that fertiliser use must reflect soil conditions, crop requirements and the peculiarities of different agroecological zones.
“We want farmers to achieve higher yields, but fertiliser application cannot be a blanket intervention,” he said.
He called for closer collaboration among research institutes, seed institutions and other technical agencies to ensure interventions respond to the specific needs of farmers.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary/CEO of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the roundtable was designed to give the research institutions an opportunity to contribute to the direction of the proposed interventions.
“For us at NADF, this roundtable is essentially, first and foremost, an opportunity to listen,” Ibrahim said, noting that the Fund recognised the different mandates, research priorities, existing capacities and operational challenges of the participating institutions.
He said the joint physical and technical assessments conducted by NADF would guide decisions on facilities that require rehabilitation or strengthening and help establish the realities on the ground before implementation.
Ibrahim said the Fund viewed the institutions as partners in delivering meaningful interventions, rather than simply recipients of support.
“We regard this partnership and the participating institutes not simply as recipients of this intervention, but as strategic partners in strengthening agricultural research, improving productivity and supporting practical solutions for what we are all here for, the Nigerian farmers,” he said.
He urged the institutions to participate openly in the discussions and provide clear guidance on their needs, stressing that the quality of the eventual intervention would depend on the quality of the engagement.
Also speaking, NADF General Manager, Partnerships and Investor Relations, Nasir Ingawa, said the meeting was aimed at ensuring that the Fund’s interventions were driven by evidence and data.
He said the proposed interventions followed a baseline needs assessment of agricultural research institutes and colleges of agriculture, which identified gaps in infrastructure, equipment and technical capacity.
Ingawa also highlighted the proposed fertiliser input application manual, designed to improve application protocols and strengthen the link between research findings, policy, extension services and farming practices.
“With these two exercises that the NADF has conducted over the last year, we thought it was paramount to move to the next stage, which is implementation,” he said.
