Managing Agricultural Risks has a Cost: Who is Paying for or who should Pay for it?

In recent times, no week passes without a farmer lamenting the situation in the country. The cost of inputs higher, costs of labour unbearable, cost of transport, issues of pests etc. These are not new but the issues are becoming more frequent. In...

Beginning of the End: Bush Burning is a Menace and Threat to Food Security

Bush burning is an age-long practice that involves setting fire on vegetation to partially or completely destroy it for farming or other purposes. This practice is common amongst farmers, especially during the dry season-- at the tail end of dry...

Redefining Farming: Beyond the Label, Appropriate Knowledge cannot be Overemphasized

There is more to farming than just planting seeds, stems or seedlings into the soil. It requires understanding of the soil, the climate, the nutrients required– either readily available in the soil or externally added, the viability of the planting...

Food Secured: Getting it right requires Accessing Relevant and Appropriate Agricultural information

In this information age, the agricultural sector has been posed to benefit immensely from it. Having access to the relevant information with the required capacity and resources to use such information will help to improve agricultural productivity...

Future of Agriculture: Investing in Mechanization, Increasing Productivity

In most developing countries, there has been a continuous decline in agricultural productivity in the last decades due to many factors such as the negative impact of climate change, decline in soil fertility, lack of mechanisation, inadequate or lack...

One Step at a Time: Meaningful Collaboration to Solve our Food Security Issues

We have started a new year, with many expectations toward achieving food security. These expectations cannot be achieved without a concrete plan; with feasible strategies and resources. However, resource constraints are a challenge, political...

How the Nigerian presidency can help to improve food production

Nigeria is suffering from food shortage, due to both insufficient investments in agriculture and climate change. In this interview by Ehime Alex for the International Center for Investigative Reporting, Ikechi Agbugba addresses the problems of...

Zero Hunger: Agriculture is our Greatest Asset, Own It!

Over the last 7 years, every week I have taken time to put my letters together where I raised several issues in the agricultural sector in West Africa (which many are applicable in Africa) and as well as proffer solutions to some of the issues...

Farming in Nigeria: Another 365 Days with its Tales

With the rising costs of food production, leading to increasing food inflation, the Nigerian farmers have had a rough year with some distortions along the food chain. The consequences are fully borne by the farmers and a small fraction is being felt...

Farmers Social Protection: An Effective Social Safety Net is not Negotiable

In the 21st century, it is sad that smallholder farmers are still one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. As a general belief, farming is a risky business enterprise, where risks are solely borne by the farmers. Therefore, whenever there is...

Brain Re-engineering can boost Food Security in Africa

The Brain Re-engineering Concept and Re-imagination (BRECR) is a powerful approach to educating young academics in agriculture and food systems research in Africa, says Dr. Ikechi Agbugba.

Agricultural Insurance: Let’s Simplify the Insurance Processes for the Farmers

Over the years, farmers have produced crops and raised livestock under controlled risks that were managed properly. In recent years, managing risks has been more difficult as a result of the increasing impacts of climate change. These changes have...