Stakeholders move to improve farmers livelihoods in Nigeria

Stakeholders including academia, research experts, financial institutions, soil scientists and credit providers on Wednesday held a Stakeholders Consultative Meeting to improve the livelihood of farmers in the country.

The meeting, which was organised by Nigeria Soil Health Consortium (South) in conjunction with Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), West African Soil Health Consortia (WASHC) had the theme “Facilitating Wider Uptake of Better Adapted ISMF Practices with Visible Positive Impact on Rural Livelihoods.”

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Professor James Adediran said “Farmers are the greatest asset to the country and should be treated with all sense of humility.

“Soil is definitely an important factor in crop production which must be accorded adequate attention. Decline in soil fertility in southern Nigeria and in Nigeria as a whole has resulted to crop low yields and thus low productivity in our farms.

“The Nigeria Soil Health Consortium is set to promote Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISMF) in order to improve crop production with healthy environment and reduce poverty.

“We are now in the era of global warming where climate change has negatively impacted on agricultural production. The intervention of the consortium in this area is germane and apt. The use of ISMF in improving agricultural production is in the right direction and we must therefore do whatever we can to promote it in our farming systems.

“Soil is an important factor in the life of farmers and should be treated and well managed. We are set to promote integrated soil management to reduce poverty in this country. The intervention of the consultium is in right direction.

“I therefore charged you all to maximise the opportunity given to us by the consultium to adopt proven technology. It discourages wastege of resources and promote and ensure efficient use of livestocks”.

The Coordinator, West Africa Soil Health Consortium, Dr Jeroen Huising maintained that the programme was organized to ensure that livelihoods of farmers are improved as expected.

Huising who spoke through the Head of the Land and Water Resources Management Programme at IAR&T Dr. Olufunmilayo Ande said that the event was organized to promote/sensitize the public towards good improving the life of farmers in the rural areas.