By Felicia Imohimi
Prof Ayo Ogunkunle, President and Chairman of Nigeria Institute of Soil Science (NISS) Governing Council has called for urgent detailed soil survey in the country to achieve sustainable development, enhance food security among others.
Ogunkunle made the call at the National Soil Survey and Soil Fertility mapping workshop on Tuesday in Abuja with the theme Enhancing food security in Nigeria through detailed soil survey and soil fertility mapping.
The president, while speaking on the workshop theme, described identified detailed soil survey as the real foundation for genuine sustainable development for the country.
He described soil survey of the country as an investment that was sure to pay for itself, noting that the nations soil survey was long overdue.
The don who expressed regret that the nation had lost a lot by delaying the survey till date emphasised that further delay of the survey would be suicidal for the nation.
There is urgent need for detailed soil survey in the country in order to achieve sustainable development, enhance food security among others, he said.
Ogunkunle noted that globally soils provide food for approximately seven billion people at the moment.
The president added that based on UN forecast to provide food for nine to 10 billion by 2025 the mainly soil characteristics, socio-economic availability of food as well as food production capacity must be significantly improved.
Crucial is the capacity of soils in the landscape to be adequate to meet the demands of the food crops for high and sustainable yield.
It is equally important that farmers worldwide are able to manage their soils sustainably.
Land is the real wealth of a nation as it is basic to human existence. Soil, a major component of land is vital and a non-renewable natural resources on a human time scale.
It is essential for food, feed, fibre and fuel protection hence it deserves to be at the top of national and international agenda for its role in sustaining life through food security, he said.
Ogunkunle explained that information from the detailed soil survey would afford every land owner/user the knowledge of the type of soils on his land, their characteristics, use potential management requirement and real value for alternative uses.
According to him, it is obvious that the survey will surely enhance food security and hence sustainable development.
He identified other dividends of the survey to include ease of land use planning that will halt the loss of prime agricultural land to non-agricultural uses, improvement in industrialisation, youth employment, health, peace/reduction in conflict and increase in life span.
The president, however, advised that considering the benefits inherent in detailed survey no effort should be spared in ensuring that the project is executed as soon as possible.
The need for updating or revision will surely arise with advancement in knowledge and science. This will occur from time to time but not too frequently if the project is executed properly by qualified professionals.
Ogunkunle defined soil survey as the identification of the soils on a landscape, based on their characteristics and the location of their extent, separated by boundaries, on the soil map.
Soil survey is the systematic examination, description, classification and mapping of soils in an area. Soil surveys are are classified according to the kind and intensity of field examination.
It is an inventory of properties of soils such as texture, internal drainage, parent materials, depth to groundwater, topography, degree of erosion, stoniness and salinity and their spatial distribution over a landscape.
Soils are grouped into similar types and their boundaries are delineated on a map.
The information assembled in a soil survey can be used to predict or estimate the potentials and limitations of the soils behaviour under different uses, he said. (NAN)
Source: NAN News