#Agriculture

Food security: Farmers tasked on weather

By Kehinde Oluwatayo
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To ensure food security and enhanced yield, farmers in Ondo state have been advised to avail themselves of experts’ advice on weather situation before embarking on any farming practices.

    Giving the advice in his office, Assistant Director, Meteorology, Ondo state Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Ade Ajayi charged them to come for information saying the weather is not predictable as a result of climate change.

     Ajayi who said that farmers in this part of the world rely on past weather situation  that is changing called on them to rely on what experts are making available from time to time.

    He said  his department, under the state Ministry of Agriculture is saddled with the responsibility of weather forecast in the state.

     “We collate and analyse data on monthly basis and release it to stakeholders especially farmers because we are more or less an agro-based agency.

    “In the olden days, in the time of our forefathers, they don’t rely on data from office. Ordinarily, a farmer knows when to clear his farm, when to ridge, when to mulch and when to await the first rain. So people have been used to this style, but they should know that the weather was normal then and could be adequately controlled.

   “The best thing for anyone who wants to make a head way in farming activities is to seek experts’ advice. Come to our office for any information you need, we will give you”,he assured.

   He lamented that farmers in state were not making good use of the opportunity.

    According to him, the agency which is in collaboration with Nigeria Meteorological Agency is the best around, adding that states like Ekiti, Osun, Oyo and even Lagos do not have what Ondo  state has.

    Apart from collating and analysing data, the agency, according to Ajayi has a soil laboratory where soil is tested to determine which soil is good for a particular farming activity.

   “We don’t have the same type of soil in the 18 local government areas of the state. We test the soil to know which soil is good for your farming. When we were in secondary school, we believed loamy soil was the best for farming, loamy soil is the best here because what we plant here  are  root crops.

   ” In places where they plant onions, groundnut, pepper, what they have is loose soil. So we test to know which soil is good for what”.

    Ajayi who said the agency is more or less a representative of NIMET in the state noted that the agency has offices in the 18 local government areas of the state to make information accessible to farmers.

    While saying that the work of the agency is different from that of NESREA, Ajayi said  the agency is saddled with the responsibility of weather forecast, while NESREA is in charge of environmental standard and regulation.

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Food security: Farmers tasked on weather

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