NAN-AE-8
Soil
By Suleiman Shehu
Ibadan, Sept. 23, 2016 (NAN) Ayoade Ogunkunle, a professor of Soil Survey and Land Evaluation in the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, says the use of low quality soil by farmers is militating against food security in the country.
Ogunkunle said this on Thursday evening at the 2016 edition of the University Lecture Series organised by the University of Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the lecture was “Management of Nigeria’s Soil Resources: An imperative for Sustainable Development.’’
He said that the importance of soil resources in agricultural production had been trivialised in Nigeria over the years while serious attention had not been given to soil problems.
“The major problem militating against food security in Nigeria is poor quality, highly degraded and poorly managed soil resources.
“ Little effort is made to redress the high degree of soil loss and depletion of soil quality through degradation in the country and this leads to low yield of most of Nigeria’s arable crops.
“Soil degradation must be minimised for the quality and capacity of the soils to improved and to achieve food security for sustainable development,’’ the don said.
Ogunkunle also said the soil management strategies in use by Nigerian farmers could not sustain soil quality and capacity for food security or self-sufficiency in food production.
He said the country needed to adopt appropriate sustainable management and conservation strategies to harness the nation’s agricultural soil resources.
“Sustainable land or soil management has the capacity to preserve the land resources to meet human needs and development.
“ It is a knowledge-based procedure that integrates land, water, biodiversity and environmental management in order to meet rising food demands while sustaining ecosystem services and livelihood,’’ Ogunkunle said.
Ogunkunle said that there was an urgent need for agricultural transformation in which soil resources would be given their rightful place so that food security and sustainable development would be achieved.
“ It is hoped that the current fall in oil price in the world market will force Nigeria to get its priorities right by wisely investing in agricultural production and research.
“ If this can be done, the present suffering from the low price of oil will turn out to be a blessing in disguise,’’ Ogunkunle said. (NAN)
SYS/OJO
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(Edited and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)