The Lagos State Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project has launched the Farm Record Handbook and the E-Record Portal to enhance good farm management and record keeping for farmers in the state.
The Farm Record Handbook and E-Record Portal is an application for collecting, organizing and categorizing farm operations and records to improve good management practices, retrieval and disposition, among other uses.
At a stakeholders’ workshop held in Agege, Lagos, where the portal was launched for farmers, Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, the state project coordinator, shared that APPEALS is committed to enhancing the productivity of farmers across the rice, poultry and aquaculture value chains.
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She explained that one of the purposes of the workshop was to connect farmers with financial institutions, so they may obtain support for their farming activities with single-digit interest, while further noting that record keeping is important for loans but is one thing most farmers find very difficult to do.
“The world is changing because we are in an evolving generation and everyone is going high-tech,” Sagoe-Oviebo commented. She said that subsequently, in addition to launching record books across the three value chains, the APPEALS Project has introduced an electronic recordkeeping tool, allowing farmers to maintain records even on a laptop or phone.
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Prince Gbolahan Lawal , who serves as the commissioner for Agriculture, explained that good record-keeping would help farmers plan and perform realistic forecasting, which is needed for proper farm management and sustainable profitability.
He stated that prior experience has proven that farmers who keep records are usually successful, and advised farmers to be good financial managers by maintaining accurate farm records and establishing a proven record-keeping system.
