- Evolution of Nigerian Agriculture: From rural survival to a key economic sector, now contributing 25% to GDP and employing 70% of the population.
- Challenges of Modern Methods: Initial success with chemical fertilizers and heavy machinery led to soil degradation and reduced yields, prompting a shift to sustainable practices.
- Transition to Regenerative and Organic Farming: Embracing practices like crop rotation, reduced tillage, and organic inputs to restore soil health, increase yields, and ensure long-term sustainability.
Unleash the Potential of Regenerative Agriculture: Increase Organic Farming Yield by 18% and Reduce Waste by 12% in 1 Year.
The relevance of agriculture in the life of a Nigerian has never been more evident than it is now. Before this revelation however, agriculture was considered as just a means of survival to local nomads that dwelt in rural areas around the country. It was assumed that agriculture was just a way of life for them and they were used to it because they were born into an environment that embraced such a lifestyle. Local nomads were generally categorized as uneducated and underprivileged as Agriculture was considered as the only way for the ‘uneducated’ to keep themselves busy.
However, the narrative soon changed when people started to see the potential in Agriculture and started getting involved in it. To expand awareness about this, Agriculture got introduced into the academic system and today we have professors in the field of Agriculture. Over the years, the nation introduced Agriculture into the economy and the result was amazing.
Today, agriculture contributes approximately 25% of the the GDP (Gross domestic products: which is an evaluation of a country’s economic performance, mostly used for intertemporal or international comparisons. This process is used to review the overall economic activities in a country over a given period of time). A large number of the nation’s population ventured into agriculture in order to boost its impact on the economic sector.
Today a vast number of people engage in agriculture not only because they need the final product but because it is a great source of income. Agriculture is fast becoming one of the Nation’s major source of income in so many ways. The exportation of agricultural products for example has placed it at the top rank of the Nation’s income generation.
Also, agriculture has served as a means of employment to about 70% of Nigeria’s total population with the number still increasing every year.
However, with the number of people getting involved in Agriculture, it became difficult to stick with the traditional methods of farming. In an effort to make the agricultural process easier and less stressful, and to ensure a maximum harvest, those who studied agriculture professionally came up with inventions such as chemical fertilizers, heavy farming machineries such as tractors and even chemically treated seeds that grow in a short period of time and produced a bounty harvest. These inventions are amusing and were successful at first and encouraged even more people to get involved in agriculture.
But along with the prolonged implementation of these modernizations came the side effects. The chemical fertilizers damaged the nutritional components of the soils, the heavy machines made the soils weak and vulnerable to natural disasters and the chemically treated seeds yielded poisonous harvests. With these side effects, the yeilds started to reduce and people ended up investing more in farming and earning less during harvest. It became more wasteful than profitable to engage in agriculture.
After intensive research was conducted on the reasons behind these wastes and losses, agriculturists came to a conclusion that the situation was salvageable if the modernizations were gotten rid of and farmers returned to the local farming practices. But this could not just happen with a snap of the finger. It requires time. Hence, concepts like Regenerative agriculture and organic farming were employed.
How the concept of Regenerative agriculture and organic farming can be used as a desperate method to remedy the failed agricultural practices in Nigeria.
With the negative outcomes of modernization in agriculture in Nigeria, it is safe to say that Nigeria is in desperate need of a remedy or a way out.
Agriculturists reached a conclusion that the best solution is to revert to the traditional methods of farming.
Regenerative agriculture is a practice that has been in existence for a long time. But with the invention of modernization, the practice was ignored. However, with the threat on food security and a depletion in health of the soil and human beings, agriculturists have advised farmers to employ the practice once again.
Simply explained, Regenerative agriculture is a practice that focuses more on replenishing the health of the environment while improving the yields in agricultural products. To implement this practice, other sub practices such as planting of cover crops, merging of crops and livestock, use of natural and organic fertilizers etc. are employed.
Organic farming is also one of the practices that are capable of redeeming the failed agricultural practices in Nigeria . In simple terms, organic farming is the process of farming that employs more natural methods to boost crop production, soil fertility and generally improve the farming environment.
This process totally excludes the use of chemical and harmful fertilizers, chemically treated seeds and aims to restore the nutritional components of the soil by making it healthier through more natural means. To implement this practice, sub practices like use of natural and organic fertilizers, crop rotation, no tilling and planting of cover crops were employed.
In collaboration with regenerative agriculture, organic farming has a high potential of protecting food security by restoring vast agricultural harvests in Nigeria. And with an increase in agricultural production, environmental waste is bound to reduce. Some of the sub practices employed to achieve this goal are: reduced tillage, sanitization, merging of crops and livestock, biological pest control, crop rotation and use of manure and compost to replace chemical fertilizers.
- Reduced tillage:
Organic farming has employed this practice as an effective way to conserve soil organic matter which forms a major component of soil nutrients. This practice aims to reduce tilling of the soil especially using heavy machines as it weakens the soil and makes it vulnerable to natural disasters such as erosion and flooding. Organic farming encourages that where possible, soil should not be tilled at all but if it must, it should not be done with heavy machinery or continuously. Reduced tillage enables the soil to retain and regenerate its nutrients which makes it healthy and able to withstand threat and also yield more harvest.
- Sanitation:
In as much as dirt is necessary for a fertile soil, not all dirt components are beneficial. Some dirt components become more useful after they are burnt, some need to be cleaned out completely and some just forms habitation for pests. It is important to sort out the dirt on the farm and put them to use accordingly.
- Merging of crops and livestock.
Excretory substances from livestock is considered an effective natural fertilizer for crops. And yields from crops are healthy for livestock. If possible it is encouraged to merge crops and livestock on the same land as it has a potential of increasing the growth and sustainability of both. However, it might not be reasonable to keep livestock on farmlands while trying to grow cash crops as there is a tendency for the livestock to devour the crops and obstruct the required harvest. In such cases, the crops and livestock can be rotated continually thereby increasing the productivity of both.
- Biological pest control:
This process involves using a less harmful pest to get rid of the more harmful one. The less harmful pest popularly referred to the natural enemy is introduced on the farmland where it devours the more harmful pest. This process is a very effective method of pest control when practiced correctly as it allows the soil maximum opportunity to conserve and regenerate healthy organic components.
- Crop rotation:
Much like human beings, farmlands need rest in order to regenerate or renew its strength and nutrients. Continuous cultivation on farmlands is one of the issues that causes a reduction in harvests and increases waste substances. It is therefore recommended to allow farmlands to rest occasionally. But where this is difficult, crop rotation can serve as a remedy.
In farming, there are crops that use up more soil nutrients than others. Crop rotation implores farmers to constantly rotate the crops planted on a farm so as to give it an opportunity to regenerate its nutrients. By so doing, the soil is given a chance to function effectively and efficiently, hence an increase in the rate of production.
- Use of manure and compost to replace chemical fertilizers:
One of the objectives of organic farming is to completely eliminate the use of chemical or harmful fertilizers during farming. To substitute the presence of chemical fertilizers, the use of manure (waste products from animals) and compost (decayed remains of organic matter) is recommended. Substituting chemical fertilizers with compost and manure has the potential of boosting production rate of crops and also increasing source of income.
This is possible because a lot of livestock farmers now gather the excretory substances from their animals and sell it at high rate as manure for farmlands. This simple substitute creates an exceeding boost in harvest and since it is a very organic process, the harvests also tend to have a high health benefit to the consumers.
When the concepts of Regenerative agriculture is merged with the methods of organic farming, it yields a very productive and viable result that has the potential of protecting food security by creating a boost in the annual harvest of cash crops, increasing economic growth and notably reducing the rate of waste both in investment and outcome.
This process is so reliable that if farmers were to employ this practice, a positive result (high increase in harvest and a notable reduction in waste) will be visible in just one year.
The Essence of Regenerative agriculture in respect to organic farming
In order to stay on track and not deviate from the mission, organic farming has these four guiding principles to keep it on track.
- Health:
Organic farming prioritizes the health of the soil first as this is most important. All other factors of health are dependent on the health of the soil. When the soil is healthy, it produces healthy plants and hence healthy harvest. When animals and human beings consume these healthy harvests, they become healthy too .
- Ecology:
Organic farming is working on a system of farming that promotes ecology (a situation where living organisms can correlate with their environment and with each other with minimum compromise) as this will be beneficial to improve necessarily and profitable conditions for farming
- Fairness:
Organic farming builds on fair relationships between the environment and living organisms. This means that organic farming is working on conditions that will provide equal opportunities for both the environment and for living things so that at the end of the day, no one will be cheated.
- Care
Organic farming proposes that farmers and agriculturists should give special care to the environment and other forms of nature so as to build hope for a better healthier and fruitful environment. And in return benefit from it wilts chances of getting a healthier, happier and a financially stable future generation.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Organic farming
Everything that exists today has an advantage and a disadvantage. Organic farming is not at exception. The following are the advantages of organic farming
- It is healthy: At the end of the day, when organic farming is practiced correctly, the soil is healthy. The fruit of the soil is healthy. The consumers of the fruit of the soil (animals and human beings) are healthy.
- It wages a fight against climate change: When organic farming is adopted intensively, it can help fight the effects of climate change such as erosion, desertification, deforestation and sandstorms.
- Create a boost in economy: It has been established that organic farming increases the rate of production and harvest. And with a hike in harvest, the economy is bound to flourish.
- Enhances educational horizons: In an effort to practice organic farming correctly and productively, agriculturists have to make a lot of research and try out a lot of processes in order to determine the most effective ones. This process enlarges the horizons of one’s understanding and encourages people to study more.
- Provides employment to many: In order to extensively understand the process of organic farming, a lot of people were employed into different departments to conduct research and suggest the best practices. Also, a lot of people were employed to practicalize these research in other to confirm that it works.
The disadvantages of organic farming.
- It is expensive: Organic farming requires the investment of a higher capital before it can be successful. Hence, it is not suitable for those that don’t have enough funds.
- It is difficult to Practice: Organic farming is not as simple to practice as chemical farming. It requires concentration, takes longer time to produce harvest and also requires a stable weather condition. The process of setting up an organic farm is also more complicated than usual farming.
- It is stressful and requires a lot of attention: The process of setting up an organic farm, planting organic products and taking care of it until harvest is a stressful process because practicing organic farming means getting rid of most or even all the shortcuts and modernizations of farming. Again, it needs a lot of attention as the process is very vulnerable and a little neglecting might lead to a huge loss.
- Organic products are not durable: Storing of organic harvest is very risky and difficult because the harvests don’t last long. It spoils faster than products that have preservatives added either during storage or during production.
- It requires knowledge and professionalism: Organic farming is less likely to be successful when practiced by a layman. The whole process requires a lot of knowledge and understanding. Therefore, only a few people end up practicing it.
Regardless of the disadvantages of organic farming however, it is still an encouraged practice because when placed on a scale, the advantages and potential benefits of organic farming supersedes its disadvantages.
Goals of Regenerative and Organic Farming Methods
To stay motivated and not give up when things get tough, practitioners of organic farming have the following goals:
- Fight against the effects of climate change
- Restore the nutrients and fertility of farmlands in order to boost production
- Ensure sufficient supply of highly nutritional food substances.
- Prevent further threats of deforestation
- Increase the financial income for farmers and the nation at large.
It is believed that the aim of every business or investment is to make profit. The practice of organic farming has the same potential but on a long term basis. The process might be expensive and almost unaffordable right now but with time, when people gain more knowledge and awareness about it, organic farming will be extremely profitable.
The collaboration of regenerative agriculture with organic farming methods is the best thing that could ever happen to a country like Nigeria that depends on agriculture as one its major source of income. In the long run, it promises the possibility of profit and fertility on every side. A healthy and fertile soil, a beautiful climate, healthy and happy consumers and a nation with a bustling source of income with rich and intelligent agriculturists. The future is truly bright for Nigeria. Regenerative agriculture is the future. But the future starts now.
