Don wants Morocco to assist Nigerian agric using biotechnology

The Head of Department, Crop Science and Biotechnology, Imo State University, Owerri, Professor Onuh Martin Onuh, said Nigeria should tap into Morrocan method of using microorganisms to solve some problems in agriculture.

Professor Onuh said this during an agricultural collaboration meeting between Nigerian universities, polytechnics and a Moroccan University, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, UN6P, facilitated by OCP Africa.

The meeting was seeking ways for possible exchange programmes, technologies, and human capacity building for the agricultural sector among the universities.

Professor Onuh expressed hope that such synergy and collaborations will definitely help the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

“It is a good effort by OPC Africa and UN6P University in Morocco coming to share their own views with Nigerian scientists, especially in the universities and polytechnics.

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“It will help us here in Nigeria. Morocco is developed in agriculture, so their coming here is just to help us and we appreciate that collaboration.

“They are out to train Nigerians in technology and modern agriculture. What we have seen is programmes run in that University as presented, especially in the area of agro biosciences; using microorganisms to solve most human problems, especially in the area of agriculture and that is wonderful.

“My University will like to collaborate with them in the area of environmental protection. Like OCP they produce fertilizer and they are in business who do not want their fertilizer to go down. They preach the use of fertilizer to farmers, but for us yes, farmers should buy fertilizer and pour into the soil, which helps crops to grow and harvest,” Onuh said.

He, however, expressed concern about soil complexity, which everything is dumped into the soil, and what happens to the soil after fertilizer is added to the soil as it accumulates in the soil waiting for another crop or other things, which at the end there is environmental soil pollution as a result of excess of phosphate, nitrogen, sulphur or any of this mineral.

“How now do we take care of it by fighting the toxicity? Some places in Nigeria do not need fertilizer but cleaning up. And it is important to test the soil to know whether phosphate fertilizer is needed or not,” he cautioned.