‘Under application of fertiliser contributes to poor yield’

Local farmers don’t realise good yield for their crops, compared to foreign farmers harvesting similar crops, what is responsible?First and foremost, I want to say that the farmers are using fertiliser but they are not doing so at the right time and the rate they are supposed to use. It is a fact that in […]

Local farmers don’t realise good yield for their crops, compared to foreign farmers harvesting similar crops, what is responsible?
First and foremost, I want to say that the farmers are using fertiliser but they are not doing so at the right time and the rate they are supposed to use. It is a fact that in the whole of Sub-Saharan African, farmers apply less than the required quantity of fertiliser and, in most cases, at the wrong time. I think on the average, the farmer applies about 13 kilogrammes of nutrient per hectare whereas in other climates farmers apply as much as 100 kilogrammes of nutrient per hectare. You can see the disparity is so wide. Both farmers are applying fertiliser but they are doing so at a very different level. One applies far less quantity than the other. So, expectedly the farmers are not getting the right yield as what is obtainable in other climates and the fact remains that before a farmer in other climate even set out to plant, a soil testing programme is put in place. What that means is that the level of the soil fertility is tasted and on the basis of that, the farmer now goes out to apply the quantity of fertiliser. That is not obtainable in this part of the world. You know we are hoping that sometime we shall get to a point where the farmers, as a matter of culture, imbibe soil testing programme. Test the level of their soil fertilizer, based on that they can go out to the field and apply the right quantity of fertiliser. So, these are some of the factors why the farmers are not getting the right yield. This aside of the fact that most of the varieties they are using are also the traditional type, the so-called traditional varieties which are not fertiliser responsive, nutrient responsive, compared to modern varieties that are fertiliser responsive. The traditional varieties are also susceptible to attack by diseases, so even if you apply fertiliser but you did not apply the right variety of seed, automatically you will get low yield. It is actually a combination of so many factors coming in to play that determine what quantity of yield the farmer obtains, also the management aspect matters. If you apply fertiliser but you did not weed at the right time, you will not still get what you want. How many times did you weed, did you take time to protect your crop against pests that are out to destroy the crops? The overall is actually the function of so many factors, not just fertiliser as it is wrongly perceived.
Does your research institute or any other institute in Nigeria conduct soil test?
We have come up with recommendations on the type of fertiliser to be applied in all the crops in the country and a recommendation on per ecological basis. You know in a particular area we have what we call a low fertility status, medium fertility status and high fertility status. It is on the basis of this that fertiliser recommendations are made for each of the crops. However, some of these recommendations need review to be updated in the light of the emerging scenario. You know the climate is even changing, the rain, and temperature, some of these things change. Most of them need to be updated in light of the emerging scenario in term of climate and environment. A number of projects are going on currently, like what we call optimum fertiliser recommendation for crops in Nigeria. There is also the project of Nigerian soil consortium. These two projects are trying to address some of the inherent problems of fertility that our crops have so as to come out with some specific fertiliser products that are suitable for the different ecological zones. As it is obtainable presently, a farmer just apply, maybe, for upland rice the recommended rate of 60 kilogrammes per hectare, 30 kilogrammes per hectare of phosphorus and 30 kilogrammes per hectare of potassium. But experiences have shown that by the time you go beyond this level, you still get response that is why there is the need to review these recommendations for all the crops in Nigeria. These are vital information for agricultural development, particularly now when many university graduates are engaging in agricultural business.
How soon will this information going to be available for the farmers in the country?
Hopely by 2016, you will be surprised to start seeing new fertiliser products in the market that are completely different from what we used to see in the market, presently. The new fertilisers are going to be developed for some specific functions. The new fertiliser product is being developed alongside the manufacturing companies like the Notore. Definitely, the young graduates who are enthusiastic of going into farming will meet the situation very suitable and the product will be ready for them to use.
Is there any local means of knowing the fertility of a farmland without a formal soil test?
Research is ongoing in such direction as we want to encourage farmers and the farmers groups to carry out soil testing before applying fertiliser. However, efforts are on to develop simple techniques for testing. I am also aware that the federal ministry of agriculture has acquired some testing kits that are very simple to handle. In fact, they can give a farmer a lot of information on the particular status of any farmland which enables the farmer to know the quantity of fertiliser he can apply for optimal yield.
The quality of some of the fertilisers farmers’ accessed through the GES programme is questionable. Does your research institute test to ascertain the quality of such fertilisser products?
The type of fertiliser products the farmers are accessing under GES programme are tested and found okay in terms of nutrient. NCRI as an Institute is mainly concerned with the new products of fertiliser. The Institute does not, in any form, evaluate a product until there is request for such. So GES fertiliser products have never been evaluated by the Institute because there was no such request.