Nigerian Government Urged To Pay Attention To Soil Research

A Professor of soil fertility and organic agriculture, Professor James Adediran has called on government to pay more attention to soil research in order to increase food security in Nigeria.

Adediran, who is the immediate past Director of Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), made the call while delivering the 362nd Inaugural Lecture of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, at the Oduduwa Hall of the institution.

While speaking on the lecture titled: “The Natural Treasures Inherent in Soil: Explore and Manage It for Agricultural Production, Sustenance of Life and Survival of Mankind”, he urged all tiers of government to promote soil testing programme and provide subsidy for soil testing to Nigerian farmers with a view to enhance the resource base of the nation and its environment.

Adediran noted that recycling organic wastes to fertilizers and technologies on integrated soil fertility management involving alternative utilization of resource materials should be encouraged by the government among Nigerian farmers.

According to him, the thrust of the lecture is to draw attention to soil management techniques which majority of Nigerian farmers must embrace if the nation’s soil resources are to be exploited in a sustainable manner to ensure food security.

He noted that the soil has treasures and there is need to explore it and manage it for agricultural production for sustenance of the nation.
He, however, highlighted the importance of soil and its elements which made up life with certain treasures that made it sustainable to mankind.

“Whatever we do, we should be cautious of not damaging the soil; we need to take care of soil, when we do that, automatically we are taking care of ourselves, this generation and the next.When we harvest our crops, we took some nutrients away, we ate some of these nutrients, without bothering to go back to this soil until death, but what we consume, we passed them out to the soil,” Adediran stated.

Nigerian Tribune