Two million farmers to benefit from greenhouse mechanization

In pursuance of the Federal Government diversification goal, no fewer than two million Nigerian farmers will benefit from the roll out of a new initiative by foremost agricultural firm, Saro Agroscience Nigeria Limited.

Managing Director of the company, Oluwole Adeyegbe revealed this, during the unveiling of the Specialised and Large Farmers division of the company to stakeholders including financial institutions, farmers and others at their corporate headquarters in Lagos.Adeyegbe said the initiative would help the country reduce food importation, provide food security, job creation, saving of scarce foreign exchange and grow the economy.

To underscore the importance of the new initiative, Adeyegbe revealed that it is capable of enhancing crop yield and income for Nigerian farmers.He said, “The division we are launching today is focused on specialized and large scale farmers. By this, specialized farmers are those who operate green houses and large farmers are those with large expense of farm land. Our package for small farmers makes available important crop procession products that farmers that are small can afford for the benefit of their farms and thereby improve their crop yield.

On that we are unequivocal that we are going to reach two million farmers within the next three years and we are going to improve their livelihood with inputs that will improve their yield.

While making assessment on the direction of the Federal Government, he said Government is taking a step in the right direction.“The government is quite keen in supporting Agric because diversification is non-negotiable in the face of scarce foreign exchange. It is important for Nigerians and Nigeria to look inward. Agriculture is readily available through crop and livestock production among others. Agric is a way out and can help us increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings through exportation. Agric is a readymade employer of labour that can help in reducing unemployment. There is a lot that we can achieve through Agriculture as a country. I think the government of the day is well focused on this and are going in the right direction,” he added.

In his presentation, Head of Business, SAS Large Farms Solution, Patrick Ohaji, disclosed that the company has open field drip irrigation for maize, lettuce, cabbage and other crops.

“The greenhouses are fixed at 10x24m which is equivalent to 240 square meters, but for small farmers, it is usually advised that they use open field because of the cost implications and specialties involved in certain crop protection products to produce at their own level,” he said.

Established in 1991, Saro AgroSciences –a subsidiary of SaroAfrica International Group has grown to be leading marketer and distributor of Crop Protection Products, farm machineries, irrigation and greenhouses in Nigeria.