Agriculture

Social Disorder: Expert outline Causes; Task Leaders

Published

4 years ago

May 25, 2021

An Agricultural expert Sir Sam Korie has outlined some of the social disorders facing the various communities in Nigeria and tasked the government to ensure that smallholder farmers are supported and provided with incentives to produce enough food for the populace.

Sir Korie who was a Guest of the May edition of the Ezumezu Isinweke Virtual Summit identified food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, Poverty and unemployment, Poor health situations, burden of chronic disease restricted access to quality health care, lack of public transportation, poor infrastructure, low educational attainment, low health literacy, as some of the major factors.

He said that Agriculture plays a major role in tackling some of these challenges. “Asides from the known fact that if you do not eat adequately, you will suffer serious health issues. There is an increasing rate of child malnutrition in our communities. Children are no longer able to eat food in the right quantity and quality and the effect is the onset of nutrition-related diseases stunted growth and, in severe condition, kwashiorkor, beriberi and many others. Many of us would have been taller if we ate good food as children.

There is a correlation between malnutrition and child mental development. For children, the early formative years especially between 0 to 9 years of age are critical and if they are exposed to malnutrition, it will most likely lead to poor mental development. For a child to grow up smart, he/she needs good food.

For pregnant and nursing mothers who are malnourished, the impact is also on the children when they are born as they come out with low birth weight. A breastfeeding mother can only give quality breast milk if she eats right. Access to good food is the right of everyone” he emphasized.

The expert who is internationally renowned in Agriculture and Rural Development further revealed that the scourge of unemployment affects the youths the more, because of the neglects of the rural areas, leading to youths seeking greener pastures in major cities.

” The young men and women in our society are between the ages 18 to 35 years. The times are hard and difficult to get decent-paying jobs for these young people, and you know the saying about ‘’An idle hand is the devil’s workshop’’.

When young people are unable to get employed or decent wages, they either do any of these two things which are – to engage in criminal activities, or to migrate to bigger cities in search of opportunities that are difficult to come in this era. Our youths do not want to stay in the rural communities any longer as it does not appeal to their social needs. Why can’t agriculture be the solution to this problem of unemployment as it has been in many advanced countries?

If you take a census of the farmers in our communities, you will discover that over 70 percent of them are above 60 years of age. Our farmers are old and are less vibrant now compared to their youthful days especially with their reliance on crude tools and practices. Why are our young people no longer interested in agriculture?

When you ask a young man or woman to ascribe a word or phrase to agriculture, you will hear – stressful, drudgery, unattractive, dirty, time-wasting, poverty and many other negativities. In many modern societies today, they have or are changing the narrative to the opposite of these words. They have introduced what they call the value chain concept where agriculture does not stop on the farm alone, rather they have created opportunities in storage, processing, packaging, branding, marketing and distribution, and ultimately, the consumers’ consumption on the table”.

He challenged the government at various levels to ensure that the communities are as favourable and habitable compared to the outside urban communities by providing basic amenities such as water, electricity, basic and modern health care facilities, good housing, schools and even security. “If our villages have all these things, why would anyone want to leave to places like Lagos only to end up selling recharge cards” he concluded.

Ezumezu Isinweke is the Apex sociocultural association of Ihitte/Uboma people in Imo State.

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Agriculture

IWMI: Promoting affordable irrigation technologies for smallholder farmers

Published

2 weeks ago

October 21, 2025

The Gleamer

Mariam Sanni

Smallholder farmers are challenged with erratic rainfall leading to drought spells, crop water stress and eventually reduced growth and yield penalties

Water insecurity is the major risk to smallholder farmers and a major driver for low investments in agricultural innovations

Even when water resources are sustainably available, smallholder farmers are unable to invest in irrigation equipment due to high upfront costs.

Smallholder farmers have limited access to loans and credit facilities even though irrigation usually is a profitable investment.

Promoting affordable irrigation for smallholders involves increasing access to low-cost technologies like drip and sprinkler kits and solar pumps, and supporting them with financial tools like subsidies and credit.

Also the Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID) has helped farmers to independently invest in, manage and maintain irrigation equipment, adapting technologies to local needs without relying on large-scale projects, reduces farmers’ reliance on erratic rainfall and leads to increased farm investments (good seed, fertilizers, etc.)

Farmers move from 1 rain-fed crop, to multiple harvests per year, boosting yields, income, and food security

Nigeria and other countries have high potential for solar-based irrigation, irrespective of the type of water resources.

As part of efforts to boost local capacity to produce and maintain simple, low-cost irrigation, International Water Management Institute, IWMI through multi- stakeholder dialogues, policy support is partnering with stakeholders created an enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable irrigation development .

The Researcher , Agricultural Water Solution, IWMI Dr Adebayo Oke during his presentation at the International Conference on Climate Change and Just Energy Transition 2025, highlighted that the institute has foster SMEs’ inclusive scaling of bundled irrigation solutions through inclusive business model development and strategic partnerships

The Conference which was theme: Sustainable Clinate Resilience and Just Energy Transition in Africa: A Collaborative Pathway through Policy, Capacity Building, Research and Inclusion was held in Abuja.

He added that its has deployed an impact accelerator program to develop new bundled solutions and SME collaborations that address multiple value chains

According him, IWMI has attracted sustainable finance investments in SMEs to fast-track the adoption of bundled water solutions by smallholder farmers.

Speaking on experience in Nigeria: scaling solar irrigation solutions –Solar scaling pathway studies (Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi) has stratifying the smallholder farmers using the Discrete Choice Experiment.

He mentioned bundling of irrigation technology and financial services to determine scaling pathway/different financing models.

Dr Oke added they also developed a credit facility to enable the scaling of SPI.

Furthermore, he stated IWMI-West & Central Africa Priorities for 2024-2030 as building resilient agric food system against climate change , leveraging water for resilience in fragile and conflict affected settings, enabling circular water and food economy innovations, supporting water infrastructure and allocation decisions among others .

The Country Director , Ghana and Regional Representatives for West and Central Africa, Professor Kehinde Ogunjobi in an interview with newsmen at the event highlighted the importance of evidence-based data for farmers, aquaculture, and environmental ministries.

He said that there is need to raise awareness and emphasized the importance of government support for research and developmental projects on climate change and its impact on agriculture, livelihood, and other sectors.

Professor Ogunjobi has implored government to build capacity of people working in the field of climate change and capacitate farmers to turn evidence-based data into reality.

He encouraged the government to do more to support research and address the impact of climate change, which is more evident in the West African region compared to developed countries.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate with the government and institutions like IWMI Ghana to improve the impact of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and improve the livelihood of people in the region.

He noted the political shift in the US, with the previous administration no longer supporting climate change initiatives, emphasizing the need for Africa to look inward.

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