Stakeholders, including academia,
research experts, financial institutions,
soil scientists and credit providers,
Wednesday held a consultative
meeting to improve the livelihood of farmers
in the country.
The meeting, which was organized by
Nigeria Soil Health Consortium (South) in
conjunction with Institute of Agricultural
Research and Training (IAR&T), International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA), West African Soil Health Consortia
(WASHC), had the theme “Facilitating
Wider Uptake of Better Adapted ISMF
Practices with Visible Positive Impact on
Rural Livelihoods”.
The Executive Director of the Institute
of Agricultural Research and Training
(IAR&T), Prof. James Adediran, while
speaking at the event, said “farmers are
the greatest asset to the country and
should be treated with all sense of humility.”
He said, “Soil is definitely an important
factor in crop production which must be
accorded adequate attention. Decline in
soil fertility in southern Nigeria and in
Nigeria as a whole has resulted to crop
low yields and thus low productivity in our farms.
“The Nigeria Soil Health Consortium
is set to promote Integrated Soil Fertility
Management (ISMF) in order to improve
crop production with healthy environment
and reduce poverty. We are now in
the era of global warming where climate
change has negatively impacted on agricultural
production. The intervention of
the consortium in this area is germane
and apt. The use of ISMF in improving agricultural
production is in the right direction
and we must therefore do whatever we
can to promote it in our farming systems.
“Soil is an important factor in the life
of farmers and should be treated and well
managed. We are set to promote integrated
soil management to reduce poverty in this
country. The intervention of the consortium
is in right direction.
“I therefore charged you all to maximize
the opportunity given to us by the
consultium to adopt proven technology.
It discourages wastege of resources and
promote and ensure efficient use of livestocks”.
The Coordinator, West Africa Soil
Health Consortium, Dr. Jeroen Huising,
said the programme was organized to ensure
that livelihoods of farmers are improved
as expected.