The low level of mechanization is responsible for poor agricultural product in Nigeria, said Dizengoff Nigeria Antti Ritvonen, Chief Executive Officer / Country Manager.
Ritvonen also complained about the use of raw implements by farmers in the country, stressing that the arable lands of Nigeria are not used at their discretion.
According to him, Nigeria can still return to its backward fame in this sector, even when it recognized that it would take a lot of hard work to achieve this goal.
“There is tremendous potential in Nigerian agriculture, but I think we have a lot of work to do,” he told Guardian Nigeria.
“I very much believe that Nigeria can return to its fame as the leading food-producing country in Africa during the period of food production before independence.
“And I do not understand why this cannot happen again.
“Although there is a lot of work to be done to get there, it is very possible. Thus, in Nigerian agriculture there is a huge potential.
I think that in Nigeria there is one of the largest arable lands in the world, but I do not know what percentage of it is actually used for agriculture.
“Yield per hectare in Nigeria is very low. And this is due to the use of very old and inefficient farming methods. ”
In addition, he advised: “To increase productivity, we need to use more modern and more efficient farming methods and get rid of old ones.
“We need to start with mechanization, and the education of farmers is very important so that they know how to use more advanced methods.
"Mechanization is what you need to use in good quality, and agrochemicals must be of high quality, fertilizer and seeds must be of high quality, and this will increase the yield."
