The Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) was established by Decree 37 (now Cap 11) of 1984 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It was established to develop and improve the quality of human resources in the agricultural sector through training and other interventions and strategies. Agroecology is a relatively new concept that is being introduced to learners on sustainable agricultural production at ARMTI.
Although the concept of agroecology cannot be equated with sustainable agriculture, it fits perfectly into existing training programmes. This project is justified insofar as it will tackle the challenges of accreditation and the development of agroecology as a more robust approach to agriculture than the sustainable agricultural system that is more common in the institution at present.
The project will therefore help to resolve the following constraints :
- Low level of basic skills in agroecology among ARMTI trainers
- ARMTI demonstration farm not compliant with the agroecological system
- Farmers' reluctance to adopt agroecological practices
- Reluctance of beneficiaries to pay for training in the new agroecology concept
- Insufficient agroecology model centres
The proposed project will significantly enhance ARMTI's capacity to deliver agroecology training programmes, as it will install an agroecological demonstration farm where learners/participants will be able to see and operate a model agroecological farming system.
This will awaken their interest in adopting the model better than when it is simply taught theoretically. The proposed project will also increase the Institute's capacity to offer virtual training in agroecology to a potentially large number of distance learners.
In addition, the project's agroecological demonstration farm will also stimulate interest in agroecology among neighbouring farmers. All of this will be done in parallel with capacity-building for the Institute's human resources at the technical, teaching, administrative and financial levels. The Institute's teaching infrastructure will also be improved.
General objective: To improve the agroecology training programme at the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Nigeria
Specific objectives /h2>
01.02.03.04.In addition to building the capacity of the centre's human resources through various technical and educational training courses, and improving the teaching infrastructure and equipment and small teaching materials, the project's strategy is based on setting up a demonstration farm to complement its training programmes. This farm will include sections on poultry, fishing, small ruminant farming and vegetable production, all in an integrated system based on the principles of agroecology. It will therefore be better placed to complement the theoretical training sessions on agroecology and sustainable agricultural production. The project will also help to raise awareness of agroecology among members of the surrounding communities and encourage their interest in the subject.
Outcome 1
- Capacity-building for 99 ARMTI teachers and 8 administrative staff
Outcome 2
- Setting up an 18,000 m² functional agroecological demonstration farm
Outcome 3
- A renovated studio for virtual agroecological training with a high-definition camera
Outcome 4
- Launch and optimisation of ARMTI's YouTube channel on agroecology
Outcome 5
- Agroecology documentaries available to the public promoting agroecology
Outcome 6
- At least 3,700 learners trained in agroecology.
Outcome 7
- Publications on the concept of agroecology, development and shared experiences based on the ARMTI case study
