The adoption of greenhouse technology in farming has been seen as a way of narrowing the increasing food gap in Nigeria as its population growth rate continues to grow at an alarming rate.
Nigeria is currently populated by 200 million people who must be fed. However, there is still much demand-supply gap in most of its food, even as the population growth rate stands at 2.6 percent per annum.
Stakeholders in the agric sector believe that with the adoption of greenhouse technology and innovative farming techniques, Nigeria can reduce its food insecurity risks.
“Greenhouse technology is aimed at providing farmers with an all year round technique to produce and increase the yields of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes, pepper, cucumber and sweet-melon,” Antti Ritvonen, former country manager of Dizengoff Nigeria said.
“It is a technique which provides steady income for the farmer as well as the transfer of knowledge on how to improve the quality of their produce, reduce field losses and ensure higher profit for their investment,” Ritvonen said.
With greenhouse technology Nigeria can bridge its demand –supply gaps in the production of fruits and vegetables as well as double its production.
Countries like Kenya and South Africa in Africa are leveraging greenhouse technology to boost their fruits and vegetables production.
Experts say that farmers using greenhouse technology can recoup their investment within the shortest possible period as the average yield of a vegetable grown using the technology yields about 30 times more that on the same square meter in an open field farm.
They noted that the technology encourages all year round production and protects the crops against pest and diseases as it is grown in an enclosed environment.
Nigeria’s demand for vegetables is put at over 2.3 million metric tons per year and the country is only able to produce just about 1.8 million metric tons, with the adoption of greenhouse technology, the country will be able to narrow the gap.
Currently, it is estimated that Kenya has over well 172,000 units of greenhouse technology while Nigeria has about 4,000 units.
“Growing your crop using greenhouse is a very wise decision. You grow more using less space,” Dokun Ogunbodede, managing director, Sedfort Limited told BusinessDay on a visit to his greenhouse farm in Ogun state.
Ogunbodede said that the country would only benefit from greenhouse technology when there is a serious effort from the government to support farmers in buying the units.
He says it is currently too expensive for farmers to afford despite its ability to boost their productivity.
Josephine Okojie
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