In a bid to significantly increase yield-per-hectare of farmlands in the country, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will next year, begin to accelerate a combination of measures focused on soil health.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Sabi Abdullahi stated this when he hosted the Deputy Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Dr. Bernard Vanlauwe and the Senior Programme Officer in charge of Soil Health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Christian Witt, in Abuja.
According to the minister, Nigeria’s yield-per-hectare was lower than the African average across a range of crops.
He further observed that improper use of fertilizer and other agro inputs remained a challenge, pointing out that field reports indicated that in some places farmers were under-fertilizing their farms.
Sen. Abdullahi emphasized the attendant impact of higher yield-per-hectare on the nation’s food and nutrition security, adding that there would be life-changing improvement, and poverty-alleviation when the farmers properly take charge of the soil.
The minister therefore, called on IITA to properly align its activities and operations with Nigeria’s national interest, urging a closer relationship with relevant institutions.
The Minister of State invited IITA to assist Nigeria with the revitalization of its six zonal Soil Laboratories, which are located in the zonal coordinating research institutes in the country.
Reviving the Soil Laboratories, Dr, Sabi Abdullahi said, would be useful not just to Nigeria but also to the Regional Hub being conceived by IITA.
Earlier, the Deputy Director General of IITA, Dr. Vanlauwe in his remarks said the institution was desirous of more active engagement with the relevant technical team at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
He stressed the need to ensure research findings to end-users in order to maximize agricultural production output
