AN agricultural expert and consultant to Food And Agricultural Organisation(FAO),Professor Julius Olaifa,has warned that unless both the Federal and State Governments embark on inward-looking strategy through the resuscitation of some native agricultural technologies,the country is bound to experience food crisis in the foreseable future.
Speaking at a workshop in Ogbomoso, Olaifa recalled that part of the country’s inheritance was communal labour in which things were done in common. He stated that the system was not only cost effective but highly productive, while lamenting that the system has not been improved upon over the years.
He said, “These days, farmers now use migrant labour to farm, which is highly exploitative. Most farmers are now hungry and do not have enough food to eat, as most of the foods that can sustain them are no longer planted.”
Olaifa, whose lecture was titled ‘Toward sustainable agriculture in the millienium,’ lamented that most of the native technologies for soil fertility have been neglected, pointing out that in the past, farmers used to practice fallow system, which is no longer in existence.
According to him, “In the name of modern technology, one piece of land is now used repeatedly with farmers depending on fertilizer to grow their crops.The results is increasing poorer yields, soil acidity, which the local people have no technology to ameliorate.”
Olaifa, who also spoke on the neglect of fixed farming, noted that most farmers grow crops and do not keep livestock.
The agricultural expert, a renowned toxicologist with the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, also spoke on native poultry which he regretted is no longer visible.
“The researchers/scientists are only concerned about imported poultry which must be kept under maximum nutrition, maximum medication and maximum care.Whereas the native poultry can be kept under minimal nutrition, minimum or no medication and minimum care.Why didn’t the Avian Influenza affect our local chickens,”he asked.
On pest control, Olaifa asserted with dismay how the country currently depends on imported chemicals, which he said are expensive and poisonous to farmers and consumers.
He added, “It sounds incredible but real to say that most of the so-called fresh fishes being sold along the highways are killed by a chemical known as Gamalin 20 only for the consumers to discover later that they have cancer.”
