On 5-6 December 2018, the first ever “Survey Design and Implementation” training was conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Abuja Office on behalf of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project, for various staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in Abuja. The training course which was attended by 24 participants (15 male, 9 female) was tailored to equip participants with the methodologies of survey design and implementation strategies. It is expected that this will provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge to work with appropriate tools of agricultural survey and data management for effective utilization for planning and policy formulation.
Akinboro Olukayode Ebenezer of Data Management in the Department of Animal Husbandry Services thanked the organizers of the training and also stated that “Narrowing down to my department which has one of its core mandates as the management of livestock data for the various animal and livestock commodity resources in the country, a concise knowledge such as the one I received at the training has been of tremendous help. As the desk officer manning the livestock data desk in my department, I now have great insight into appropriate methodologies to adopt in the periodic data collection activities of my department across the country. Interestingly, the Department has proposed to Ministry management that a comprehensive livestock census should be carried out nationwide to enable the country to determine the actual population of its major domestic animal species. This training is therefore very succinct currently”.
The training is part of the activities of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project, which is jointly implemented by Michigan State University and IFPRI’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Nigeria).
