The Plateau Government, through the Agro Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) initiative, has initiated measures to enhance agriculture in the state by adopting greenhouse farming technology.
The Plateau ACReSAL Project Coordinator, Mr. Garba Gonkol, said that this initiative is being carried out in partnership with the federal ministries of agriculture, environment, and water resources.
Leading stakeholders on an inspection of a demonstration plot for a cucumber greenhouse farm in Vom, Jos South Local Government Area, Gonkol emphasized that these efforts are aimed at bolstering food production across the nation.
The project coordinator stated that the project aimed to transfer knowledge of modern farming techniques, whereby everything was controlled, from water, sunlight, wind, and diseases.
According to him, within a limited time of eight weeks from planting, one can harvest the crops, which can be done twice a year.
He further stated that ACReSAL aimed to have a green environment, and described greenhouse farming as a new technology that had been accepted globally.
“For us at least, seeing what is on the ground right now, ACRsSAL is seen to be achieving the goal.
ACReSAl aims to “green the environment”, so basically, we want to also thank the contractor and the service provider, for carrying out the task according to specification.
“The essence of having this is not just for the fruits that we are obtaining from this farm; it is for the technology.
“And so, having established and achieved this so far, there is a tendency for us to deploy the technology to farmers, which I believe my technical officers, in collaboration with the farm manager, have done.
“I believe that in this, we have achieved so much; you know, greenhouses have so many other benefits apart from being resistant to diseases.
“Another very important thing that people should be aware of is that this particular greenhouse, apart from growing disease-resistant varieties, is also like this room for early-maturing crops.
“You know, when you green the environment, the resultant effect is not just what you can get, but it stabilises the entire environment, in terms of the system, in terms of climate,” he added.
According to Acting Natural Resource Officer of the project, Mr Nambal Hassan, the technology provides more harvest.
Hassan said that they were able to transfer knowledge of modern farming techniques or smart agriculture, whereby in the greenhouse, using a drip system, everything (water, sunlight, wind, diseases) is controlled.
He pointed out that within the limited time of eight to 10 weeks, crops could be harvested, and they would last for as long as three months.
“So, with this, we expect that how we embrace technology will increase food yield and food security,” Hassan said.
Also, the Service Provider of the project, Mr Friday Bako, expressed the belief that if the technology was scaled down to other farmers, the country would enjoy food security.
NAN
