Decline in soil fertility may threaten FG diversification of economy through agric

The Executive Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan, James Adediran, says the diversification of the nation’s economy to agriculture may not yield the desired results as a result of decline in soil fertility in all the regions of the country.

Adediran, a professor of Soil Science said the decline in soil fertility in the South West area and the country as a whole has led to crop low yields and low productivity of farmers, stating that there is urgent need to save the soil to help the farmers.

Speaking at the 2016 stakeholders’ training workshop on Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), he noted that the present management techniques being used by farmers to combat decline in soil fertility have limitations, saying they cannot support sustainable crop production.

The expert said that if the soils were properly managed and proven technologies get to farmers to alleviate poverty, they would help in diversifying the nation’s economy as well as checking rural urban migration, “It is towards the realisation of these noble objectives that the Nigeria Soil Health Consortium seeks to promote use of ISFM technologies to boost crop production while sustainably intensifying land use.

We should all join hands together in increasing agricultural productivity through ISFM,” he stated. While saying that the effort of the Nigeria Soil Health Consortium to promote ISFM in order to improve farmers’ livelihood and reduce poverty is commendable, he said the time has come for a paradigm shift from the conventional methods to adopted proven technologies.

According to the ED, ISFM is a set of soil fertility management practices that necessarily include the use of fertilizer, organic inputs and improved germplasm combined with the knowledge on how to adapt these practices to local conditions, aiming at optimising agronomic use efficiency of the applied nutrients and improving crop productivity. “All inputs needed to be managed following sound agronomic and economic principles.

All soil-improving technologies have a cost in terms of labour and land. Further, as both mineral fertilizers and organic matters are scarce nutrient resources, ISFM focuses on how to manage them efficiently,” he added.