Soil scientist raises alarm over excessive use of fertilizers in farms
By Ibrahim Umar
Kanempress News
22th June 2024
A Professor of Soil Science, Mabel Ifeoma Onwuka, has urged rural farmers in Nigeria to embrace climate-smart agricultural practices, to conserve the environment, improve their yields and ensure food security amid the looming food crisis.
Professor Onwuka disclosed this at the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) 2024 Agriculture Fair/ Exhibition in Umuahia, Abia State.
She expressed concerns over the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers on farmlands.
Professor Onwuka pointed out that such chemical fertilizers pollute underground water.
She identified indiscriminate bush burning, cutting of trees, illegal waste disposal and management, and gas flaring, among others, as causes of climate change.
She advised all citizens to cut down on carbon footprint and its impact on the environment, through climate-smart agriculture.
Professor Onwuka also decried the food insecurity in Nigeria and the degraded and fragile soils in South-East Nigeria.
She enjoined every household to go into home and micro-garden to cushion the exorbitant cost of food items in the market.
Earlier in his remark, Professor Ike Nwachukwu of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture expressed concern that Abia State is not producing enough food for its domestic consumption but mostly depends on Benue State and the Middle Belt for food supply.
Professor Nwachukwu who warned that the inability of Abia State to feed itself portends danger to the state and the Southeast region.
She urged government at all levels to take agriculture seriously and encourage young citizens to embrace farming to ensure food security.
Nwachukwu described agriculture as a goldmine, lamenting that the Southeast region is not producing anything significant, and insisting that they are more at risk of food crisis.
In Nwachukwu’s words: “It is time to shun politics, take advantage of agricultural institutions in Abia state and make farming a worthwhile venture to ensure food security in southeast and Nigeria at large.”
In their response, the members of AFAN in Abia state vowed to leverage agricultural institutions’ innovations to improve their farm yields.
