Farming in Nigeria

Agriculture in Nigeria has greatly improved in the past few years because of the advent of technology and other necessary infrastructures.

Initially, most Nigerian farmers merely engage in subsistence farming to provide food for their family while very little is made available in the market.

Growth in agricultural output has no doubt been on the rise as farmer are stepping away from subsistence agriculture and embracing modern civilization - investing in large scale farming and ultimately increasing agricultural products

The Nigerian soil and climatic condition is very suitable for the production of wide verities of crops, there are over a hundred different food crops produced by farmers in Nigeria on yearly basis which includes yam, maize, millet, sorghum, beans, potatoes, rice, onions garbage, carrot, pear, cocoa, cocoa yam, okra, vegetables and very many others

Nigeria is the world number 1 producer of cassava... Cassava farming has taken the center stage in Nigeria and contributes over 45 percent of Nigerian agricultural GDP. Agriculture in Nigeria contributes merely about 20 percent of the Nigeria total GDP, trailing behind petroleum which is the major Nigerian domestic produce.

Although Nigeria depends heavily on the oil industry for its budgetary revenue it is believed that if the agricultural sector is properly managed and enhanced, it would greatly boost the country's gross domestic product and even replace oil on the top of the list, considering the vast area of land that is unused in Nigeria.

In 1990, it was speculated that about 82 million hectares out of Nigeria's total land area of 91 million hectares were found to be arable, and merely 42 percent of this cultivable area was farmed. Much of this land was farmed under the bush fallow system, a process whereby land is left idle for a period of time to allow natural regeneration of soil fertility and replacement of soil nutrient.

It is believed that the agricultural sector is one of Nigeria's potential source of revenue that is yet underdeveloped and unexplored.

Animal rearing in Nigeria

Agricultural practices in Nigeria also include the rearing of animals for meat production and animals that serves as beast of burden - aides in the transportation of goods and man.

Livestock farming is a very important aspect of agriculture in Nigeria, the Nigerian community depend mostly on meat from cows and chicken. Meat in Nigeria is an important part of the Foods in Nigeria, it suitable to say that Nigerians don't cook foods without meat or fish.

the kind of animals reared in Nigeria includes - Cow, Goat, Sheep, Cattle, Pig, Horse and several others while poultry birds includes chicken, turkey, duck, pigeons and others

Problems of Agriculture in Nigeria

Agriculture in Nigeria could use a little push at strategic points if success is to be achieved, there is a need for the education of farmers, most farmer in Nigeria who engage in subsistence agriculture have very little knowledge of the operational method of the improved agricultural system If farmers in Nigeria are provided with the necessary tool and adequate resources, there would be gross improvement in Nigerian agricultural sector; the land would be properly utilized and this would greatly reduce the high level of food stuff importation and ultimately increase employment rate.

There are lots of problem hampering the production of food crops in Nigeria and rearing of animals, chiefly among them is electricity. Over 40 percent of Nigeria perishable goods get spoilt after harvest due to the lack of electricity needed for the storage and processing.

Electricity is needed for the running of large farm equipment, most Nigerian farmer simply chose to stick with manual labor as the cost of running machines with alternative source of power is often steep.

Another problem facing agriculture in Nigeria is the lack of good roads needed for the transportation of harvested crops from the farm land to the main roads, most farms in Nigeria are located about a mile away from the main road and the only entrance to these farms are mostly a path beaten by the foot of men.

Nigeria Farmers also encounter the problems of funds needed for running a farm and construction of farm houses and proper storage system.

Way Forward for Nigeria Agriculture

If the government of Nigeria and the ministry of agriculture would intervene in solving the problems of farmers in Nigeria, it is believed that by 2020 the country would witness a gross decrease in the importation of food stuffs and animals. With good planning and the needed resources, Nigeria has what it takes to multiply her GDP just with cassava products alone. - See more at: http://www.total-facts-about-nigeria.com/agriculture-in-nigeria.html#sthash.5nB3OvfI.dpuf

Growing Okra

As more gardeners discover that they really like okra, the range of this warm-natured hibiscus cousin is steadily edging northward. Growing okra requires warm weather, but by using seedlings, you can shave 3 weeks or more from its usual long season. As long as okra seedlings are handled gently, as if they were breakable eggs, they can be slipped into the garden – or into large containers – just as the hot season begins.

Soil, Planting, and Care

Okra seedlings don’t like cold. Plant well after the last spring frost when the ground and air have warmed.

Choose your sunniest spot for growing okra, and wait until the weather is warm to set out your plants. Plants like it when nights are at least in the 60s and days 85 or warmer. In the North, gardeners might wait until late June to plant, since pods appear within 2 months.

Okra grows best in soil with a near-neutral pH between 6.5 and 7.0, although it will do fine in a pH as high as 7.6. Plants benefit from a generous amount of compost or other rich organic matter, which should be thoroughly mixed into the soil before planting. If your soil is not rich, you can work bagged organic fertilizer or slow-release conventional fertilizer such as 4-6-6 or 19-19-19 into the soil at the rate recommended on the package, then feed the plants with Bonnie Herb & Vegetable Plant Food at planting and every couple of weeks thereafter.

Okra seedlings have fragile taproots that cannot be broken. Thoroughly water your seedlings an hour before you plant them. Gently break open the sides and bottoms of their biodegradable containers, separate the seedlings, and set them about 10 inches apart. Plant slightly deeper (about ½ inch) than they grew in their pots. Water the little plants if rain is not expected, but wait a few days before mulching to give the soil a chance to absorb the sun’s warmth. Okra is appreciated for its ability to withstand drought compared to other vegetables, but for good growth and production, you’ll need to water at least an inch a week, just as with other vegetables. Just know that if you run into an extended dry period and can’t seem to water enough, okra will be the last to suffer.

Okra flowers look like the blooms of a hibiscus, a close relative to okra. This flower is visited by ants.

The early growth of okra is often slow, but the plants grow much faster once summer starts sizzling. In addition to gaining height, okra’s leaves get bigger as the plants grow and begin producing yellow blossoms followed by tender pods. Plants are erect with a main trunk, making them look a little tree-like in the garden.

Troubleshooting

Cool weather is okra’s number-one enemy, and stressed plants may fall victim to verticillium and fusarium wilts, which are soil-borne diseases that cause them to wilt and die. Another serious pest is root knot nematode. Ants often climb up plants to steal sips of nectar but seldom cause serious damage. Fireants are the exception, as they can cause damage to developing flowers that forces them to abort. Other pests that you may run into include Japanese beetles, stink bugs, aphids, corn earworms, and flea beetles.

Harvest and Storage

Proper care for your okra plants will yield a bountiful summer harvest!

Warm weather helps pods grow quickly, so check plants every day once they start producing. A pod can grow from nothing to full size in 2 or 3 days. Pods first appear at the base of the plant up so that by the end of the season you could be on your tiptoes to harvest.

Pods are ideal when 2 to 4 inches long; they get very tough and stringy if allowed to stay on the plant. Always remove any that are too big to eat because they keep the plant from producing.

Use pruning shears to cut the pods with a short stub of stem attached. Some people suffer uncomfortable itching from contact with okra’s stiff leaf hairs, so you may want to wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt when gathering your okra. If a few pods slip by you and grow into giants, cut them off to keep them from exhausting the plant.

By the end of the season, full-sized okra plants will tower overhead as these do at the edge of a tree and shrub border.

Growing Cucumbers

A tropical vegetable, cucumbers thrive when the weather is hot and water is plentiful. Growing cucumbers is for warmer weather: Plants are so frost-tender that they shouldn’t be set into the garden until soil temperatures are reliably in the 70-degree range (no less than 2 weeks after the last frost date).

Cucumber plants grow in two forms: vining and bush. Vines scramble along the ground or clamber up trellises, while bush types, such as Burpless Bush Hybrid, form a more compact plant. Generally, vining cucumbers yield more fruit throughout the growing season. Bush selections are especially suited to containers and small gardens. You can increase the season’s yield of bush varieties by planting several crops in succession 2 weeks apart.

Whether you want a cucumber for slicing or pickling, there’s a variety to suit your taste. Lemon cucumber offers smaller fruits perfect for a single serving, while Boston Pickling boasts classic heirloom taste. The long Armenian cucumber is a specialty ethnic cucumber prized for taste and the fact that a single cucumber yields so many slices.

Soil, Planting, and Care

Set cucumber plants at the base of your trellis and mulch after planting unless the soil could use a little more warming.

Cucumbers need warm, fertile soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8, although they will tolerate a bit more alkaline soil to 7.6. Work compost or composted manure into soil. Plant seedlings 36 to 60 inches apart, depending on variety (check the stick tag). For vines trained on a trellis, space plants 1 foot apart.

In areas where spring is long and cool, you can warm the soil 3 to 4 degrees by covering the hill or row with black plastic.If you do not plant in black plastic, then mulch with pine straw, wheat straw, chopped leaves, or your favorite organic mulch shortly after planting. If the weather is unseasonably cool, you can wait a while to mulch until the ground is warmed by the sun. Mulch is especially important to keep the fruit clean for bush types and vines not growing on a trellis. Straw mulch is also thought to be uncomfortable for slugs and creates an uneasy footing for cucumber beetles, helping to keep them at bay.

If you can, trellis your vines. This keeps the fruit clean and saves space. A 12- to 18-inch diameter cage made from 4- or 5-foot welded wire fencing or hog wire will support 2 or 3 vines. Wire is easy for the tendrils of climbing cucumbers to grab as the plant grows.

Cucumbers grow fast and don’t demand a lot of care. Just keep the soil consistently moist with an inch of water per week (more if temperatures sizzle and rain is scarce). Inadequate or inconsistent moisture causes oddly shaped or poor-tasting fruit. If possible, water your cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the foliage dry. This helps prevent leaf diseases that can ruin the plant.

You can fertilize with a liquid food, such as Bonnie Herb & Vegetable Plant Food, every 2 weeks, applying it directly to soil around plant stems. Or you can use a granular, slow-release fertilizer worked into the soil when you plant or sprinkled around the plants later.

Troubleshooting

Cucumbers bear male and female flowers. Female blooms have a small swelling at the base, the makings of a fruit.

If vines bloom but don’t fruit, something is probably interfering with pollination. First, make sure that you see both male and female blooms. Male blooms usually appear first and then drop off, so don’t be alarmed if this happens. Within a week or two, female flowers will also appear; each one has a small cucumber-shaped swelling at the base that will become a cucumber.

Several pests bother cucumbers. Squash bugs may attack seedlings. Slugs like ripening fruit. Aphids can colonize leaves and buds. Straw mulch helps keep slugs at bay, as can trellising vines to get the fruit off the ground. Vines are also bothered by cucumber beetles, which chew holes in leaves and flowers and scar stems and fruits, but worse than that, they spread a disease that causes the plants to wilt and die. Powdery mildew is a disease that leaves white, mildew-like patches on the leaves. Apply fungicides at the first sign of its presence. To minimize disease spread, avoid harvesting or handling vines when leaves are wet.

Harvest and Storage

You can pick cucumbers whenever they’re big enough to use. Check vines daily as the fruit starts to appear because they enlarge quickly. Vines produce more fruit the more you harvest. To remove the fruit, use a knife or clippers, cutting the stem above the fruit. Pulling them may damage the vine. Don’t let the cucumbers get oversized or they will be bitter, and will also keep the vine from producing more. Yellowing at the bottom (blossom end) of a cucumber signals overripeness; remove the fruit immediately. Harvest lemon cucumbers just before they begin turning yellow. Although they are called lemon cucumber because the little oblong or round fruits turn yellow and look like a lemon, by the time the fruit turns yellow it may be a little too seedy for most tastes.

You can keep harvested cucumbers in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days, but use them as soon as possible after picking for best flavor. If you don’t eat a slicing cucumber all at once, cover the unused portion in plastic wrap to prevent dehydration in the refrigerator. In fact, it’s a good idea to wrap your whole cucumbers in plastic or store them in a zipper bag in the fridge to keep them crisp.