Dr. Umaru Aliyu, Executive Director of the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) Badeggi in Niger, has urged dry season rice farmers to cultivate large plots of land that they can easily maintain in order to ensure bumper harvests.
In an interview on Wednesday in Bida, Aliyu stated that farmers should refrain from farming enormous areas of land or several farms that they cannot successfully maintain.
“This is important due to the high expenses of farming inputs, particularly rice inputs,” he stated.
“The farmers should therefore cultivate the number of areas that they will be able to sufficiently tend to.
“There is no point for any farmer or a group of farmers to engage in expansive farm cultivation.
“This is moreso when they know that they can’t sufficiently apply the required inputs.”
Aliyu said that in rice production, yields were always higher in smaller lands that got the required attention.
“You will get more yields per unit area in a sizable area. You can’t get that with scattered farms that do not get the required inputs,” he said.
Aliyu also recommended farmers to seek the guidance of extension agents on a regular basis in all aspects of farming.
The NCRI president also urged irrigation farmers to always buy inputs from trustworthy companies.
He claimed that such inputs included enhanced seeds and fertilisers, noting, ” people should not buy them from the open markets.
“The farmers should buy pure seeds and not just grains that have no value or any worth.
“They should also buy the right brands of fertilisers that will boost their yields.”
