Babatunde O
A Letter to my Farmers (338)
Every farmer’s goal is to improve his or her productivity and increase yield from the previous season. But how it is achieved differs from one farmer to another farmer. Unfortunately, there is a wrong belief amongst many farmers that increasing yield can only be achieved by increasing the quantity of fertilizer applied (either from organic or synthetic sources) to plants. This belief has resulted in increasing soil toxicity through over application of fertilizer and pollution of water sources through leaching, which has had more negative effects on the environment and the people living around the farming communities.
Besides this, I have reiterated that crops don’t need any fertilizer to improve its productivity rather it needs specified nutrients that are lacking in the soil to improve its productivity and at the same time, that every soil has its maximum strength (that’s, the soil has a quantity of nutrients that it can take up at any given time). So, there is a limitation to the quantity of nutrients the soil can take up per time. This is one of the reasons we need to do a good soil test periodically to understand the different dynamics in our soil in order to develop an efficient soil management system. Also, there is a need for farmers to invest in quality seeds to improve crop yield. There is no amount of nutrients that can be supplied to a plant that can improve its productivity if the seeds are either poor or bad. It would be a wasted effort. Always remember that, the life of every crop lies in the seeds, so we need to embrace quality seeds for increased yield.
In conclusion, the journey to food security is very long for us and it requires all the knowledge and efforts to go through it. As we envision it, we need to build more capacity for farmers to improve their knowledge on the basic principles of production. Also, we need more access to quality inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, pesticides amongst others to improve yield and quality of produce. It is important we realize that at the end of the day, we are producing safe and healthy food not for just others but for ourselves also. if we fail in our duty to secure our food as a nation, it would be difficult for us to determine the level of our growth and development. This is because those who control food, control other resources of power. Let us be more intentional about our future and it starts today.
Yours-in-Service,
Babatunde.
