It requires great deal of dedication and resilience to be able to achieve the desired results.
Becoming an organic farmer may be hectic because of the several certifications, rules and standards one needs to adhere to. However, it comes with numerous environmental benefits.
According to expert views, finding the right location is key to starting an organic farm. The first step to a successful organic farm is finding land with fertile soil, good quality water and good drainage.
As a requirement, a farmland needs to be free of fertiliser and pesticide residues for at least three years.
According to quora.com, the key elements that constitute organic farming include:
• Living soil which comprise of beneficial microorganisms and macro organisms
• Second, is soil enrichment using natural amendments only such as compost, green manure, vermicomposting and lime
• Then multi-cropping, that is, planting different seasonal crops simultaneously on the same farmland to maintain plant diversity.
• Since synthetic chemicals are not to be used, crop rotation becomes necessary in organic farming to break disease cycle peculiar to certain crop specie
• Local sourcing of crops that are indigenous to the region or produced locally is also another key point of organic farming, it reduces environmental footprints
• Also, seed propagation should be a standard practice to be able to get seeds free of chemical treatment. Chemically treated seeds need to be washed thoroughly before planting
• For natural pest control, organic farmers may use mixture of natural ingredients like neem and other natural bio-pesticides
• Mulching is also a common practice in organic farming
• Mechanisation and the use of heavy machinery for farming operations is highly discouraged in organic agriculture.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bukar Hassan, speaking during the presentation of the phygital smallholder value chains technology, yesterday, in Abuja, underscored the need to provide extension services for small-scale farmers.
He said: “If we want small-scale farmers to find their footing in the agriculture sector, we must do exactly what we are saying here.
The Director, Research and Development Digital Agriculture Manobi, Pierre Sibery Traore, explained that the initiative is divided into two phases of agcelerant and phygital technology, noting that agcelerant is the value chain orchestration platform that helps link farmers to financial services.
He said the essence of the project is to ensure the safe inclusion of small-scale farmers to the World Food Market. He said that because of the size of Nigeria’s economy, the country could be a major supplier of food to the world in the coming decade.
He said there is need to set in motion the phygital infrastructure to make it happen.
Traore further explained that the organisation is also launching the Nurturing Africa Digital Revolution for Agriculture (NADIRA), to embed in phygital agriculture the use of advanced satellite technology.
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