Expert urges government to aid farmers with soil testing apparatus

An Agriculture expert, Mr Africanfarmer Mogaji, has appealed to the Federal Government to assist farmers with soil testing apparatus to improve agricultural yields.
Mogaji gave the advice in an interview with the newsmen in Lagos
The expert also said that private investors could venture into the business of soil testing because it was an untapped goldmine in the agric sector.
He said that given farming inputs to farmers without determining the constituents of the soil would retard the Federal Government’s economic recovery and food sustainability drive.
Mogaji, also the Chief Executive Officer of Xray Farms Consulting, said that government could attract private sector investment by organising a viability study for experts in the sector.
“We do not have adequate soil laboratories in the country; however, I believe government needs to open that sector up as a business opportunity to the private sector.
“To encourage the private sector, let there be feasibility study about it, as some revenue could be generated from soil test laboratories.
“The government can also bring in soil scanning apparatus that farmers can buy as an input and that way the farmer will know what seeds to plant and how to plant them,’’ Mogaji said that the challenge of how to develop the sector was not rocket science, adding that government could encourage importers to bring such tools.
“The country has bi-lateral trade agreement with China and other manufacturing countries, we should leverage on that relationship and bring in the equipment.
“I know there are some that are not so complex, when you put them to the soil they will determine the nutrient present and the ones lacking,’’ Mogaji said.