Nigeria: How urban farming can boost food production

Owing to the level of insecurity arising from kidnapping and banditry, farming has almost become impossible in some parts of the country

By Eleojo Idachaba
Blueprint
May 26, 2023

Excerpt:

A few days ago, experts and stakeholders in agro-allied industry while gathering in Lagos called for urban farming in order to boost agriculture. They therefore identified urban farming as the new solution to the recent high cost of food items and scarcity in the country. Their stand was made known at the 2023 AgriQuest Africa Network (AQAN) Food System Summit which was on the theme: Rethinking Sustainable Food System in Nigeria: Current Trends & Pathways.

While making his submission, the managing consultants of Bdellium Consult, one of the partners of the summit, Dr. Adelaja Adesina, said farming in urban areas has the capacity to increase food production and reduce cost of food and in the process help to make them available in the market.

He charged residents of urban cities to grow some food crops in the confines of their homes and compound as according to him, this was one of the current trends and the pathways to sustainable food production that could feed Nigeria’s growing population reputed to be largest in Africa. He said Nigeria’s population growth rate is estimated to be 2.4 per cent per annum and projected to increase from about 220 million in 2023 to 400 million people in 2050.

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