Experts harp on early preparation for 2026 farming season

Experts in the agricultural sector have urged farmers to adopt smart practices and begin early preparations for the 2026 farming season to increase productivity and achieve higher yields. The call was made during separate presentations at the 2026 review and planning meeting organised by the Agricultural Graduates Association of Nigeria (AGAN) held at the Niger […]

Experts in the agricultural sector have urged farmers to adopt smart practices and begin early preparations for the 2026 farming season to increase productivity and achieve higher yields.

The call was made during separate presentations at the 2026 review and planning meeting organised by the Agricultural Graduates Association of Nigeria (AGAN) held at the Niger State Ministry of Agriculture.

The Niger State coordinator and chief executive officer of the AGAN, Hussaini Iliyasu, said the meeting brought together experts to brainstorm on effective methods that could translate into higher productivity and improved yields for farmers.

“Another challenge we have identified, which we are also helping farmers to solve, is the blanket application of fertiliser on their farms. Farmers only buy fertiliser and apply or the government would just give out fertiliser to farmers without any guidance. We have come up with the idea of soil testing that tells what a farmer actually requires on his farm for good production.

“We are also teaching farmers to address the over-dependence on chemical fertiliser. Now, we are bringing organic fertiliser through biocha to enable farmers improve even the soil nutrients. The use of organic fertiliser can even help farmers record high yields with minimal cost and also be a healthy way of producing their crops,” He said.

Dr Gana Andrew Kolo, the director of research outreach at the National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi, Niger State, said that due to the challenge of global warming, the institute developed new technologies to be released to farmers.

“We use the approach of smart agriculture. We have developed some agronomic packages that would enable the farmers make a reasonable yield from their crop.

“First, we have an early maturity rice variety. We also have an agronomic method or practice that involves the application of organic fertiliser to improve the over-mined soil and, at the same time serve as an insulator to the soil to reduce evaporation that would reduce excess water from the soil. It will also help to moisten the soil.

“We also have a system that would be ideal for farmers, especially to combat global warming. It is a farming system that involves planting crops that spread on the ground, such as cowpea, and intercrop the maize.

“The cowpea helps to suppress the weeds, reducing the competition for water with weeds, and at the same time adds nitrogen to the soil and makes the little water we get from the rainfall available to the crop.

“We also recommend the rate of fertiliser. Even if the soil is being over-mined, when the farmer adopts this technology, he would be able to meet the physiological demands of the crop. At the same time, we also have ways by which farmers can manage the little rainfall we have. This can be done through water harvesting. You harvest the water by establishing small ponds and making water available when the rainfall is not available to the crop,” he explained.

He said the institute was underfunded, which limits its ability to fully carry out its mandate, and called for greater support to enable the agency provide timely guidance to farmers for yearly crop production.

According to him, inadequate funding makes it difficult for the institute to disseminate most of its technologies to farmers, stressing: “Funding is a limiting factor. The land is there; the soil is there; the scientists are there; their knowledge is there; the intelligence is there and they are ready to work, but the fund is a limiting challenge.”

Mr Kolo advised that based on the NiMet prediction of possible early rainfall this farming season, farmers should begin early preparation and procure high-quality seeds, especially rice, soybeans, beniseed and castor, from reputable seed-producing companies.

“They should start land preparation early because the rain starts early and there is a tendency that it will stop early. Therefore, they should plant early maturing crops so that even if rain doesn’t take long time, the crop would escape the shortage of rainfall.

“But if NiMet has advised that farmers should delay planting, it means that they are expecting that the rain would last longer. If rain is expected to last long, farmers should delay their planting so that most of the crops don’t mature for harvesting in the rainy season because if crops are due for harvesting in the rainy season, especially cereals, and even yams and maize, they will cause decay.

“However, if rain starts early and lasts longer, we have some varieties of rice that can take up to four months before they are due for harvesting. For sugarcane farmers, industrial sugarcane can survive a longer rainy season,” he added.

Godswill Agriye, AGRA programme officer in Niger State, also said that smallholder farmers who heeded experts’ advice had grown to become large-scale farm owners, with some now operating as major agro-dealers.