By; MOHAMMED KAWU, Bauchi
Prof. Garba Babaji, formerly Vice Chancellor of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), has stressed the need for the farming community to be ambassadors of the campaign to keep the soil standing for it to sustain mankind until the last day.
Babaji noted in an opening remark on the occasion of celebrating the World Soil Day in Bauchi Tuesday, that soil has over the time been neglected, bastardized and degraded by the people.
He said, “It important to note that we are celebrating about the most important thing on earth, it is the first and last in our life. Creation started from it, we live on it, and we would go back to it”.
According to Babaji who was the chairman of the occasion celebrating the day, “We may not be able to eat and live comfortably if we don’t take steps to celebrate the World Soil Day”.
Bauchi state chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science, Isah has Bappah Magaji has earlier assured that they would continue to undertake activities that will boost the knowledge and awareness of the farming community so as to achieve successful agricultural production.
Describing agriculture as the bedrock of human population which the institute would continue to support towards achieve the desired objective, Magaji stressed the need for farmers to understand the soil and its deficiencies with a view to remedy them.
He said, “We want to enlighten the farming community to understand the importance of the soil and what it takes to identify its problems and solve them so as to achieve successful crops production”.
The institute chairman thanked organizers of the event and appreciated participants for being with the lecture while expressing confidence that the activity will achieve its desired objective of reaching the farming community.
The Manager of the Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP), Abubakar Ja’afar Ilelah had in a welcome address commended the collaboration between the stakeholders to address issues related to the soil.
He stressed the need for the collaboration between the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science, Soil Science Association of Nigeria and the BSADP to educate farmers who constitute majority in the rural areas to know the status of their soil with a view to reclaim it.
Alhaji Abubakar Ilelah noted that the 2021 World Soil Day came at a right time when the climate has changed with the soil not in exception, saying “You can only succeed when you have a favourable climate depending upon good and health soil condition”.
He stated that the change happening in the soil cells is part of the climate change, noting that unless the chemical spread on the soil is checked to know its status, the change happening in the soil would result to zero harvest for a farmer.
