Soil damage threatens 40 percent global food production – Expert

Unless urgent precautionary measures are deployed, the impact of soil degradation may lead to a 40 percent loss of global food production in the next 20 years, an expert said.

Addressing a town hall meeting with a farmers’ group in Kano, an agric technology expert Mr. Abhishek Narayan explained that a paradigm shift away from traditional farming production to technology driven practice remains an alternative solution to mitigate the impact.

Abhishek, who is the director of marketing and head of impact at Robust group of companies, disclosed that the agric processing firm is engaging farmers in sustainable farming practices to preserve quality of soil in Nigeria.

To achieve the best agricultural standard, Abhishek recommended the introduction of acre square, a mobile application that would boost farmers’ yield, and prevent possible attacks of diseases and pests on produces.

Abhishek explained that Robust is deepening farmers engagement essentially in the area of processing and value addition to crops like Sesame, beans and other spices crop to reduce export of raw materials.

He said the firm is establishing a processing industry in Kano and Lagos to improve value change production, create job opportunities and build the economic viability of their country of origin.

According to him, “the application is not new globally because over 41 million farmers in 50 countries are presently using the Application on 30 million hectares of land globally. It is a well-established and widely used application in several countries include India, Singapore, and many African nations.

“The mobile application is used to harness satellite data and when downloaded, it guides farmers on daily task for farming in line with best practice, predict yield and wealth condition while preserving the soil from pest attack”. Abhishek explained.

Reacting to the innovation, Vice president of National Association of Sesame Farmers of Nigeria, Mal. Sadiq Kasim expressed satisfaction with the introduction of modern technology to improve agricultural production in Nigeria.

Sadiq urged the firm to ensure a structure is created to cascade awareness and sensitization on the significance of the technology.