Agriculture from where I'm from is known as a culture before the world recognised it as a source of income. We engage in agriculture as a hobby something we love doing. Different countries have some kind of culture they are known for, for Nigerians, among such culture we are known for is Agri-culture. A practice passed down from generation to generation which has made Nigeria economy thrive to high places during those days when agriculture was practised across the nation.
Though we were not developed in terms of infrastructure and technologies but we were happy because prices of commodities were not beyond what we could afford since there was sufficient farm produce creating an endless circle of food supply. A part of me would have gladly blamed civilisation for the present state of this practice but that wouldn't make it get any better.
To an extent I was privileged to be born in the 90s when agriculture still thrives though not for long. Growing up in a town called ketu in Lagos State, a semi developed area, there wasn't any sort of farm around, having to grow up in such area I never knew a practice such as agriculture existed apart from what I learnt in school but it was different from having to experience it, having to feel it, all I heard was theory. It is kind of hard to miss something that you are not aware of its existence but then everything gradually changed when we moved to a new location.
After a while we moved from ketu to my father's new apartment he built in ikorodu. Compared to our former residential area this new neighbourhood is just like a village or should I say a town under development, a new site. In those days the primary occupation of most people in this area was farming and raring of animals. Two things I love the most existing in one place; which is raring of livestock and farming.
I fell in love with our new home instantly, I was really happy to have something close to a wild life experience. We have two lands here, one is where our home was built and the other is just an empty fenced plot of land we use for farming.
In those days we don't buy vegetables or fruits such as mangoes, pawpaw, watermelon, pineapple, banana, plantains, lemon e.t.c. there was abundance of it, even if you want to buy from someone it was as cheap as purchasing a sachet water.
We were galavanting in the joy of never having to worry about what to eat or spend too much on farm products, such were the kind of joy we felt. Though there was not much infrastructure available such as roads, stable means of transportation, pharmacy, clinics which are also essential to human survival but we never truly needed much of it because we were eating sufficient healthy meals and we had a lot of herbs at our disposal.
But then the happiness was short lived because infrastructural development is something that occurs to every area eventually laying waste to agriculture. As developers swept in gradually they started purchasing the farm lands bit by bit by offering the farmers good amount of money. That was how availablity of farm products started to shrink little by little till there was almost nothing left of the lands used for agriculture.
We still managed to continue farming on our own land though not for commercial reasons. We still plant and harvest some of the things we consume e.g cassava, plantain et.c My love for agricultural practice is known on this platform, I have occasionally written on different agricultural practices, product and preventive measures which you could read for helpful farming ideas.
| Cassava harvest | Plantain harvest |
|---|---|
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As a result of lack of agricultural practice and reduction in lands used for agriculture, the rate at which prices of commodity and products have skyrocketed is alarming to the extent that it is difficult to manage 3 square meal without spending large of some of money on the cost in an area that used to have abundance of everything. This just proves that we have less farmers in the field and the numbers of available farm products we have is not enough to feed our population. Those who manage to keep their farm lands now sell farm products at high prices, I can't blame them they no longer have much competitors.
Truthfully I would really love to bring back the old days when agriculture was practised but to be realistic how exactly am I going to do that? i wouldn't mind introducing any form of tech or machinery to boost the farm produce but the issue is not about technology but humans. It doesn't really matter what kind of innovation is introduced, if the people have lost faith in the practice, will machines farm on their own? without farm lands will machines plant seeds in the sky?
Even if we manage to connect the existing farmers that exist in some isolated village, how will it get to the city? what about the issues of bad roads and insecurity? Bandits hijacking transported goods from transporters, the risk is really high. I have had first hand experience because I served in a village in OYO state called owotoro community and I know how difficult it is for the farmers in the community to transport their harvest to the city, it is not just a struggle but a battle.
Connecting farmers to the city with some app or tech device won't do anything but paving a secure route for farmers to transport their farm produce to the city and also protect farmers from getting harmed by bandits on their lands, so how exactly am I suppose to do this? it not something a person can do, it is a national issue. What about the cost of petroleum influencing the cost of transportation, will the app or machine also solve this? I don't think so. The issues facing agriculture runs to deeper than what people can see.
This write-up was inspired by week 35 episode 2 - SciFi multiverse titled "mechanised agriculture and technology." in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All images used are mine or else stated otherwise
