FUOYE Lecturer, Ayoola Oluwajobi Cautions Against Soil Damage Activities
A plant scientist, Dr Ayoola Oluwajobi has advised Nigerians to desist from activities that can affect soil nutrients and prevent it from yielding bountiful harvest.
Dr Oluwajobi who is a Lecturer in the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, gave the advice while speaking on this year’s World Soil Day.
He identified such activities as over cropping, over grazing, erosion and indiscriminate dumping of non degradable substances as action that allowed the soil to loose its nutrients.
The plant scientist also stressed that bush burning, too much usage of chemicals, building houses as well as construction of roads without proper drainage could pose threat to farmlands, resulting to crop losses
Dr. Oluwajobi however suggested mixed farming, where farmers could use the droppings from their cattle, poultry, pigs, rabbits and fishes as manure for their crops as parts of measures to increase food production.
Emphasizing the importance of good soil to food production, the Don noted that crop rotation and mixed cropping were better methods to enrich the soil in order to barnish hunger from the country.
He affirmed that soil microorganisms and insects play a crucial role in maintaining health soil, hence the need to protect them for optimum performance.
