Tina Amanda
An Agriculturist in Rivers state, Surveyor Emmanuel Ogbonda, has advised Nigerians to adopt indoor farming as an alternative measure to curb the impending food scarcity in the face of insecurity.
Surveyor Ogbonda who is Chairman Agro and Allied Trade Group at the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with our correspondent, said the current insecurity situation is already causing hunger.
According to him, if urgent measures are not implemented to tackle food production, Nigerians will soon run into food shortage.
“Security is paramount, if the land is not secure, there is no way anyone would want to invest in a business or farmers go the farm because the farmlands are not safe for them. They are being attacked by herdsmen, killed, beheaded and raped. Lots of families are afraid of going to farm, people can no longer farm on their lands peacefully, it’s a serious challenge.
“I didn’t imagine that this nation will get to this level of insecurity we are in today which is gradually causing scarcity of food because the farmers have been forced out of business. There is hunger in the land, farm produce has greatly declined.
“Many people have houses. Within the wall of their fences, they can bag manure and sand, instead of going to the bush to plant yam, they plant the yams in the bag and it will do well. For cassava they should use wood to make a space in their houses, fill it with manure, sand and plant cassava in it.
“If lots of people can practice this method of farming, the nation would have plenty of food. The same method applies too in planting pepper, onions, tomatoes and many more”, he said.
He, however, suggested a state of emergency should be declared on agriculture to enable farmers to spend adequate time on their farmlands.
“If our leaders want this country to grow and food to be surplus, then they should declare a state of emergency, for land to be safe and secured for farmers”
He said the government should quicken the fight against insurgency and the high rate of crime that has taken over the nation.
He noted that it is eminent for the government to look into the issues that are on agitation, in order to come up with ideas on how to solve the problems one after the other.
The Agriculturist called on state governments to tighten border check to reduce the infiltration of gunmen into their States while urging them to synergies with the various traditional rulers in their zones to fish out criminals in their domains.
Surveyor Ogbonda, however, urged the government to encourage farmers by providing incentives that will help them in farm produce.
“Government at all levels should support people who are interested in farming, by encouraging them with incentives to enable them to invest properly into farm business such as fishery, crops and other farm produces that can be done indoor, which will be to the benefit of all Nigerians to reduce the effect of hunger”
