As part of efforts at enhancing food security and tackling the challenges of land degradation and desertification faced by farmers in Nigeria, a group in Plateau State known as Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) has evolved a new technology-driven approach to local agriculture and farming.
The initiative built by the Plateau State ACReSAL Project in Vom is known as Greenhouse Farm. It is a type of farming technology in which crops are cultivated under protected and enclosed environment. It enables farmers to cultivate because of climatic conditions.
The technology has become a major player in the global agriculture market as it plays a safe role in food security and sufficiency in food production. It boosts sufficiency in crop farming, even as it allows the crop to grow under a conducive space that regulates temperature and cooling systems.
It enables the farmer to experience prolonged and multiple harvest within a planting cycle and, simply put, it helps to reduce post-harvest losses. The harvest experiment includes a first-of-its-kind hybrid cucumber cultivated in Greenhouse.
Garba Gowon Gonkol, Project Coordinator of Plateau State ACReSAL explains that utilizing a combination of advanced breeding techniques and Drip technology which is a cheaper and smart method of farming capable of giving high yield that will improve the living conditions of the farmers.
Gonkol explained that the plants were grown inside controlled environment “Green House” structure designed specifically to optimize growth conditions like temperature, humidity and light exposure.
“The inaugural harvest of these cucumbers demonstrated extraordinary performance, both in terms of yield and quality. Each vine produced a considerable number of uniformly-sized cucumbers which were visible appealing, vibrant green and smooth textured,” he said
Gonkol pointed out the many advantages of Greenhouse cultivation. One of them is the significantly shortened growth cycle. Traditional cucumber cultivation methods generally take weeks longer to produce a mature crop.
Upon hearing the news, some up-takers and local markets around Jos South have expressed excitement about the prospects of having a constant supply of farm produce.
He pointed out the profitability of Green House technology, saying that a greenhouse farmer would make more money than an open-field farmer on the same portion of land, even though their cost of farming will differ. “Farmers and experts alike see Green Houses as a game-changer in the agricultural sector,” he said.
