Lack of soil tests stagnates yield, says institute’s boss

Agricultural yields have been stagnated for decades because farmers fail to conduct soil tests before embarking on fields cultivation. This was voiced by the registrar of the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science, Prof. Victor Vincent Chude at the commemoration of the World Soil Day 2020 in Abuja recently.

He said lack of tests made farmers use inappropriate fertilizers and as a result, the yield farmers get from their farms have not changed since the 1970s adding that Government must be prepared to carry out soil survey in Nigeria.

Chude stressed that  soil information was grossly inadequate just as soil maps produced in the 1970s are obsolete and were still in use. 

He pointed further that soil samplings were not comprehensive enough as the depth of sampling should be at least 1.2 metres.

Chude said it was in order to emphasize the importance of soil tests that made the institute to distribute soil test kits in the six geographical zones of Nigeria as he urged farmers to make use of the facility which were given free, and added that  a token of 500 naira might be charged later for soil tests.

He listed the various places where farmers could get to use the services as Moor Plantation, Ibadan for Southwest; University of Nigeria, Nsukka for Southeast; University of Port Harcourt for South south; University of Abuja for North Central; Uthman dan fodio University Sokoto for North west; and University of Maiduguri for North east.

The representative of the West African Fertilizer Association, Dr Innocent Okuku  described soil as ‘the reservoir of life’ urging the people to “keep our eyes on where our lives come from”, adding that “soil was extremely important because it is the last frontier” thereby cautioning against its over stretching and over pollution.

The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Alhaji Mohammed Sabo Nanono said “without soil, no plant, without plant, no food, without food, no life” and that the dialogue should be able to come up with modalities to test soils to know what fertilizers would be appropriate to use for its fertilization.

The minister, who was represented by Director of Agricultural Land and Climate Change, Engineer Tijani Bello called on extension officers to embrace sufficient human capacity  to advise farmers on how to treat soils for optimum production.