By Peace Marcel Daura
Before the discovery of crude oil, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. When oil was discovered in the early 50s, agriculture was abandoned and poverty began to creep into the nation, entirely every home. This poverty can be eradicated in Nigeria, if only the government will use innovative approach in the area of agriculture. Agricultural sector even though neglected, has the highest number of employees compared to other sectors of the economy. Nigerian youths have the potentials needed to participate effectively in agricultural development. Major problems encountered by youths in agriculture include lack of interest in agriculture as a result of drudgery in farm operations, lack of competitive market for agricultural products, lack of start-up capital, inadequate labour saving technologies for ease of operations, inadequate finance/credit facilities, among others.
As a result, they are faced with undue poverty and vulnerability. This has made youths to seek employment in other sectors of the economy to empower themselves economically, resulting in rural-urban migration and leaving the bulk of agricultural production in the hands of old people who often times produce at a subsistence level.
However, efforts made in reviving agriculture through rural youth programmes have not given the desired results. Government must at all levels promote youth in agriculture through creating awareness on youth employment in agriculture programme to enable young people know about the programmes. This will make the youth to participate actively in agriculture, to increase food security as well as empower them economically.Youths should key into agriculture through innovation. Innovation unlocks the potential of agriculture to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Innovation is not restricted to use of technologies but also use of social organisational, institutional or marketing processes or arrangements. One important innovation is growing food in impossible places. With the use of hydroponic solution, it is possible to grow food where it is almost impossible to grow food. Low-tech hydroponics enables plant growth in desert or arid environments with a soilless cultivation technique.It is a cost efficient solution that uses up to 90 per cent less water and 75 per cent less space. With that, refugees in Algerian Saharan desert have tested and adapted a high-tech hydroponic unit, which provided fodder supply for their livestock year round in 2018. It is now being implemented in nine countries: Peru, Algeria, Jordan, Chad, Sudan, Kenya, Namibia, Mali and Niger reaching 5000 people.
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If government can use this innovation, it will improve agricultural productivity and encourage youth participation. Another innovation that can help tackle the problem of food security and encourage youth involvement in agriculture is the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops. The international Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), piloted the drought tolerant maize for Africa (DTMA) project to breed drought-tolerant maize varieties for the region and particularly Zimbabwe. The impact is that for the same amount of seeds, farmers who grew drought-tolerant maize varieties were able to harvest over 600kg more maize per hectare, compared to those using drought-susceptible varieties. This was done at no additional cost. This innovation could be adapted by government, and youths will be encouraged since there will be no fear of shortage of rainfall to cause low yield. The shift towards an innovation system orientation is to realise that despite stronger national research systems, agricultural research systems, agricultural productivity remained low as a result not only of the lack of appropriate technologies and lack of access to those technologies, input, credit and access to markets and rural infrastructure but also because of gaps in information and skills that prevented rural producers from effectively utilising and adopting technologies.
Another important innovation is the growth enhancement support scheme (GESS). This innovation teaches farmers some techniques that can help usage. The impact of the GESS intervention on fertiliser was estimated by evaluating the differences in the number of bags that farmers used per hectare of farmland. Inorganic fertilisers, in combination with hybrid seeds and food rainfall, play a crucial role in ensuring maize and yam production and eliminating food insecurity among the small holder farmers in Nigeria.
Innovative agricultural interventions, therefore, have the potential to positively influence the output, income and welfare of rural households in Nigeria and as such should be encouraged to improve youth involvement to better their lives.
•Daura is a student at University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID)