Sending the youth to the farm is not the solution to our agricultural problem, following the right approach is. Part 2

I started a series yesterday where I pointed out some points as the permanent solution to our agricultural sector in Nigeria. If you miss that post,you can quickly read through it [here] for this post is a continuation of it.

If you have ever practiced farming, you will know how tedious and capital intensive it is. I am a farmer for years, and I know what it is to be a farmer.

Let drive at another point today as I will quickly take us through some data according to the population information from the

1. The Nigeria current population is 194,542,970 people

2. Nigeria population take 2.57% of the world total population

3. Nigeria is ranked 7th in the list of
   the most populous countries in the world

4. Nigeria is blessed with 910,770km2 (351,650 sq. Miles)

Out of that total population, 70% are farmers according to

If 70% are farmers according to that source, don't you think we have enough people practicing farming already?

Why can't we feed ourselves not to talk of feeding the world?

If 70% can't feed themselves not to talk of the additional 30%, then something must be wrong somewhere

Do you now see that sending more people to the farm would be a total waist if we cannot apply the right approach. This series would help in providing us with those things we need to do to improve our production, I do hope it get to the right people.

I talked about merging of operation feed the nation and farm settlement in conjunction with market availability as the first approach yesterday. Today's approach would be mechanized farming and improvement in our research institutions.

Out of the total 70% farmers we have in Nigeria, not up to 1% are practicing mechanized farming. Continue in this trend would not help us to achieve out target.

China is the world leading food producing country follow by USA and non of the two have up to 50% farmers in their respective total population according to [source ]

China make use of her 10% arable land and with that, they are responsible for the feeding of 20% of the total world population according to [source

If China with just 10% arable land can feed up to 20% of the world population, why can't Nigeria with over 80% arable land not feeding herself?

I'm not comparing Nigeria with either China nor USA and I am comparing us with them at the same time.

Where do we get it wrong?

We have enough man power according to the population status of Nigeria, but we don't have enough mechanical instruments to improve our farming.

The mechanical aids I'm talking about about are not just tractors and some other common instruments we are used to, but our research institute as well.

Man power is so limited while machine produce at a faster and more efficiently than man.

No youth would want to engage in farming with the state of our agricultural sector because of how tedious it is, if all these machines are available withing the reach of the farmer, more people would be encouraged to go into farming.

I started farming 13 years ago, if not for my passion for farming, I would have quit over and over again, not all can withstand this rigorous activities, but if their is aid to do the work while they only need to supervise, don't you think more people would quit their job and start farming? Smile

To own a tractor in Nigeria, you must be a millionaire, can the youth you are sending to farm boast of enough capital to get all these instruments?

When last do our research institute discover something new, all they do is to order for the results of other countries, I'm not against this. But, their is always an climatic factors to be considered, if our research institutes are working well, they will be able to improve on what we are having on ground.

one of the problem of agriculture in Nigeria is that larger percentage of our total farmers are not learned, it is always a thug of war for them to accept what they are not used to, if we improve on what they are used to, do you think we will still have this problem?

It is high time Nigeria invest heavily in this two sectors to boost our farming sector.

If we have just 35% of our total 70% population engaging in commercial mechanized farming, we will feed the world.

Our research institutes should be empowered,we should not wait until other countries of the world discover new and improved seeds or animals before we discover ours.

If thses two are on ground in conjunction with those I listed yesterday, our agriculture sector would receive strength to challenge the world leading food producing countries like China and USA and the youth will take pride in farming.

I plan to present these topic to us in series, please stay tune as I bring more to you in my next post on agriculture.

I love you all.