PRECISION FARMING IN NIGERIA: THE SECRET TO IMPOVING FARM PRODUCTIVITY AND PROSPERITY

By SOTONYE ANGA

COORDINATOR, AGRIBUSINESS & YOUTH EMPOWERMENTCOMMUNITY OF AGRICULTURAL STAKEHOLDERS OF

NIGERIA

‘Food for thought’

•Why farm when you cannot guarantee your output?

•Guess work farming is what over 90% of farmers in Nigeria do.

•They do not know the nutritional strength or weakness of their farmland (soil).

•They just plant their seed because they have a land to plant on.

•Then they await the harvest not even sure of what yield they will get.

•This explains why our farmers have remained poor and impoverished, with low yield per hectare for crops planted.

• To reverse this trend of uncertainty and put our farmers on the path to prosperity, we need to deploy appropriate technology and solution that will be made accessible and available to all farmers in Nigeria.

•This is what PECISION FARMING entails:

1

•Identify a land(any land).

2

•Map the land using Global Positioning System (GPS).

3

•Take soil sample across the land.

4

•Test the soil sample.

5• A detailed and comprehensive report

with map is then produced within 14 days showing:

• Nutrients in the soil• Nutrient deficiency• What the land can grow• Recommendations on how to alter the

deficiency of any land and enable it to grow various crops and ensure high yield.

•Precision farming is about using technology to make life easier for farmers

Precision Farming starts from the bottom

• Identify what the soil needs, feed the soil, the soil then feeds the plant and the plant feeds the people.

• Precision farming is in line with the Agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) of the Government and will help in quickly realising 20 million metric tons food production by 2015.

• SGS already has the technology and expertise in country to deliver this service across Nigeria.

• In delivering on precision farming nationwide we can create additional 50,000 jobs for Nigeria.