Dear members of AESON,

This administration came into office in April, 2020 following the 2021 election held during the 2021 conference of the society. The administration is continuing to collaborate with all stakeholders in agricultural extension practice and development in Nigeria. Preparations for the 2022 conference of the society, “AWKA, 2022” is in high gears and I am highly optimistic that the conference will be a success. The leadership of AESON at the national level, in partnership with the LOC are working assiduously towards that. Visitation have been made toward encouraging organization for participation in the conference. I am hopeful that participants will come from all over Africa and beyond. I therefore urge members to attend the conference and also interact maximally with colleagues. The theme of the conference which focuses on E-Extension and Agri-preneurship was carefully selected, given the challenges of extension delivery in the face of nowadays multifaceted impediments to extension service delivery and the capacity of E-extension approach to overcome them.

The association has sustained the quarterly publication of AESON journal. Conference Proceeding also ready before every conference. The current issues of both the journals and the conference proceedings have been produced and they are ready for the forthcoming conference. The current administration is sustaining this trend and possibly improve on the publication policies of AESON. The AESON journal attracts both submission and subscription from all over the world. This is in addition to the fact that the impact factor of the journal keeps rising, which makes it the envy of many. The association’s newsletter is also published on regular basis.

The Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria is continuing to engage other partners such as the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in insuring that the document for a legislated policy for agricultural extension practice in Nigeria sees the light of the day. Presently, the document is awaiting submission to the National Assembly for consideration and subsequent passage to law. The Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria is also collaborating with other professional bodies in the field of agriculture to have legislated the Nigerian Institute of Agricultural Extension. Efforts are also in top gear to prepare a policy on the Professionalization of Agricultural Extension in Nigeria. 

I must admit that challenging situations such as those brought by COVID-19 have posed serious threats to conference attendance but I still urge members to show interest in the affairs of AESON. Now that the threat of COVID-19 is winding down, I am urging members of AESON the consider physical attendance of AESON conference seriously. I particularly want to urge extension practitioners notably from the Agricultural Development Programmes, the Ministries of Agriculture (both State and Federal), the Local Government Departments of Agriculture as well as private sector agriculture formation, including inputs manufacturers and marketers to show interest and participate in AESON conference.

I present to you, this issue of “The Extensionist” with the hope that you enjoy reading it and also benefit from it.

Thank you.