By Adedotun Ajayi

Agriculture is a veritable tool to overcome hunger and poverty in a nation. A nation that neglects agriculture will suffer pangs of hunger and starvation, and the youth when hungry will descend on that nation in annoyance.
In the early 50s, the three regions in the then Nigeria: Western Region, Eastern and Northern regions were able to excel and develop through agriculture at their own pace. The western region through the dexterity and foresight of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to establish the first television in Africa, several housing estates, cocoa house through agriculture. The other regions thought developed on their own pace, but were unable to match the Western region in development.
But there was a bang, Nigerians neglected agriculture for oil money. Hunger, anger, pangs, hatred and animosity set-in, brothers turned against brothers, fathers could not take care of their children again, the youth now prefer to ride Okada rather than engaging in agriculture. Things are no more moving again, the falcons could no more hear the falconers. Government is in a mess, revenue from oil is drying up and government could not meet her commitments to the people. Insecurity has engulfed the nation, but a relief could come through agriculture again.
To stem hunger in the land, the management of Owena Press Limited, publisher of The Hope titles organised a seminal for her staff on Friday, November 20, 2020.
The company’s Chairman, Sir Ademola Adetula while speaking at the occasion posited that since montly salary was not forthcoming due to the dwindling revenue coming to the state, there was the need for Owena Press staff to embrace agriculture to better their lives.
He added that agriculture can be done in a small scale and later built to greater height. He advised the staff to look outside their salaries and embrace agriculture, mostly tomatoes agriculture which can make them instant millionaires.
Adetula, who had always encouraged staff to get multiple streams of income through agriculture at any level no matter how small, urged the staff on the need to diversify and earned more money. The lecturer on tomato family, Mr Olayinka Ige, shed more light on his journey as a tomato farmer with the Owena Staff members on the need to diversify and go into farming. Olayinka urged the people to go back to the land and till it. He too having experienced hunger and unsatisfied with the present situation in Nigeria has decided to preach the gospel of agriculture to the people who are willing to embrace it. According to him he said “I don’t have a degree in Agriculture or any degree relating to farming, all I had was passion and the mindset that poverty wasn’t for me, although the journey was not rosy because of the bad economy”
Olayinka who started as a pig farmer had challenges on how to dispose the waste from the pig farm, in his words he said, “I piled up a lot of droppings from the pigs but nowhere to dispose them, then I later got to know that it can be used for manure, I had to diversify into tomato farming”
He started tomato farming during the COVID-19 outbreak, he had previously learnt so much about tomato farming, but there was no time to start, the lockdown gave him the golden opportunity to start up his tomato farm. He said, “when everybody was shouting of hunger because of the lockdown, I thought about what I could do with my time, then I decided to go fully into tomato farming, I had a lot of challenges with money that I sold more than 20pigs to start up my tomato farm”
He made mention of the challenges he faced when he started. He said, “there were empty lands around which nobody was using, these lands attracted snakes to my house, until I decided to start my tomato farm on it, people made jest of me when I started but ran back after five months when they saw the progress and how I have made so much money”
He also explained the soil requirement for tomato farming. He said, “Tomatoes do not have strict soil requirements. They grow well in a wide variety of soils, provided they drain well. However, the plant thrives best in medium sandy soils with proper aeration and drainage. The plant is sensitive to both drought and water-soaked conditions.
He further discussed how tomatoes can’t grow well under trees. He said, “tomatoes can’t be planted under trees. He also discussed the importance of greenhouses. He said, “growing tomatoes outdoors–if done rationally and on a scalable basis-can be a good source of income, but Tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses provide several benefits, it provides high production rate. He said, “the packaged tomato you see at the grocery store was not imported from anywhere, we supply them here in Nigeria”
Civilization started with agriculture which, to this day, remains very important and plays a significant role in our lives. And while its significance may be even more pronounced in some countries than others, the reality is that every country depends on agriculture to sustain itself in one way or the other.
For decades, it’s been associated with the production of food crops. However, the importance of agriculture goes beyond farming. Its evolved into forestry, fruit cultivation, beekeeping, arbitrary, mushroom, dairy, etc. Today, the processing, distribution, and marketing of crops and livestock products are all acknowledged as part of agriculture.
Agriculture plays an essential role in sustaining and driving the economy. It’s the backbone of everything that drives us. In addition to providing food and other raw materials, it also provides employment opportunities. Safe to say the importance of agriculture cannot be overstated.
Arguably the most important aspect of agriculture is that it’s the source of the world’s food supply. No matter where or what you are eating, the ingredients in your meals came from somewhere. All roads lead to agriculture. In countries dealing with food insecurity and severe malnourishment, it’s because their agriculture sectors are suffering. When agriculture thrives, fewer people go hungry.