Soil scientist raises alarm over excessive use of fertilisers in farms

A Professor of Soil Science, Mabel Ifeoma Onwuka, has urged rural farmers to embrace climate-smart agricultural practices, to conserve the environment, improve their yields and ensure food security in the country amidst the looming food crisis.

Prof. Onwuka who disclosed this during the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) 2024 Agriculture Fair/ Exhibition in Umuahia, Abia State, expressed worries over the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers on farmlands, adding that it pollutes 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 Nigerians to reduce carbon footprint and its impact on the environment, through climate-smart agriculture.

Prof. Onwuka who also decried the food insecurity in the country and the degraded and fragile soils in South-East Nigeria enjoined every household to go into home and micro-garden to cushion the exorbitant cost of food items in the market.

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Earlier in his remark, Prof. Ike Nwachukwu of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture expressed worries 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.

Prof. Nwachukwu who warned that the inability of Abia State to feed itself portends danger to the state and the Southeast region, urged government at all levels to take agriculture seriously and encourage young people to embrace farming to ensure food security.

Nwachukwu who further described agriculture as a goldmine, lamented that the Southeast is not producing anything significant, insisting that they are more at risk of food crisis.

In his 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 vowed to leverage agricultural institutions’ innovations to improve their farm yields.