The Federal Government has approved the engagement of over 30,000 graduates across the country, who would be trained on soil management to render extension services to farmers, collect soil samples and conduct soil test for increased food production.
The Executive Secretary of National Land Development Agency, NALDA, Paul Ikonne, who made this known to newsmen in Abuja during a media chat, said the graduates who would be employed under the National Young Farmers Scheme will undergo a two weeks intensive training free of charge.
Ikonne, said the programme is aimed at changing the narrative where Nigerian farmers go from farm to farm opening the soil and planting their desired crops without testing the soil to ascertain the nutrient that particular soil requires, a practice that has enriched fertiliser producers pockets, without achieving the desired result of increasing food productivity.
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According to Ikonne, President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated NALDA to ensure that the country’s soils begin to yield maximum output and farmers begin to get their returns on investment.
He explained that farmers will be made to pay as low as N500 per sample collected, while NALDA will shoulder the rest including soil test kits and the soil collection samples kits.
The goal of soil testing is to provide an accurate assessment of the soil’s fertility so as to make accurate fertilizer recommendations.
He further stated that with the increasing awareness of fertilizer effects on environmental quality, soil testing can also be used to determine where fertilizers or manure should or should not be applied.
(Editor:Abaje Usewke)
