The adoption of greenhouse technology in farming has been seen as a way of narrowing the increasing food gap in Nigeria as its population growth rate continues to grow at an alarming rate.
Nigeria is currently populated by 182 million people who must be fed. However, there is still much demand-supply gap in most of its food, even as the population growth rate stands at 3.2 percent per annum.
Stakeholders in the agric sector believe that with the adoption of greenhouse technology and innovative farming techniques, Nigeria can reduce its food insecurity risks.
“Greenhouse technology is aimed at providing farmers with an all year round technique to produce and increase the yields of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes, pepper, cucumber and sweet-melon,” Antti Ritvonen, chief executive officer and country manager of Dizengoff Nigeria said during the Dizengoff Farmers Field Day in Epe, Lagos recently said.
“It is a technique which provides steady income for the farmer as well as the transfer of knowledge on how to improve the quality of their produce, reduce field losses and ensure higher profit for their investment,” Ritvonen said.
He said farmers could get their investment back in 12 months because the technology increases their average yields about 30 times more than on the same square meter in an open field farm setting.
“Greenhouse will produce up to 30 times more yield than on the same area of an open field and you can produce all year round and will not be at the mercy of rains or dry season because you can always keep growing your crops in your greenhouse, he said
Ritvonen also noted that Nigeria’s demand for vegetables is put at over 2.3 million metric tons per year; it is only able to produce just about 1.8 million metric tons. The greenhouse technology he submitted “is a potentially very viable option capable of narrowing this gap.”
Also speaking during the farmers day, Emmanuel Ijewere, chairman, Best Foods, noted that Nigeria has a lot to do in terms of improving modern farming methods that would improve food quality and sufficiency.
He disclosed the greenhouses technology usage in Nigeria at the moment is just about 4,000 units whereas, a country like Kenya has well over 172,000 units.
He further disclosed that Kenya has recorded milestones and has become Africa’s biggest exporter of agricultural produce because 18 aircrafts containing flowers, tomato, peppers and other leave the country daily to Europe.
“Kenya has 175,000 greenhouses, while Nigeria has at the last count, about 4,000 of greenhouses of which about 50 per cent are not operating because they were bought and installed by government. In effect, Nigeria has such a short fall that is so embarrassing,” Ijewere said.
Josephine Okojie
