The constant thing in life is change an element of time. The wheel keeps spinning and the things we have now becomes no more in the nearest feature. Mankind is blessed with intelligence which has produced innovative ideas, who would have thought we were once humans who had nothing but stones for tools, gradually our ideas evolved now here we are with more innovations that supersedes the imaginations of our ancestors. We humans invest our time, effort and knowledge in ensuring the advancement of technology to ensure sustainable future for mankind and our environment.
Is it not lovely? Having to experience all sort of technological advancements in our lifetime. I mean who could have thought it would be possible to reach out to a friend you have seen in decades through our smart devices, staying connected with all that matters to us without moving an inch, doesn't it sound intriguing? The comfort and simplicity provided by technology is something that makes us look forward to more technological advancements in the nearest future. Not just in the area of communication, technological advancement gave spread across different sectors including agriculture.
Agriculture from where I'm from is known as a culture before the world recognised it as a source of income. We engage in agriculture as a hobby something we love doing. Different countries have some kind of culture they are known for, for Nigerians among such culture we are known for is Agri-culture. A practice passed down from generation to generation which has made Nigeria economy thrive to high places during those days when agriculture was practised across the nation. Though we were not developed in terms of infrastructure and technologies but we were happy because prices of commodities were not beyond what we could afford since there was sufficient farm products creating an endless circle of food supply. A part of me would have gladly blamed civilisation for the present state of this practice but that wouldn't make it get any better.
To an extent I was privileged to be born in the 90s when agriculture still thrives though not for long. Growing up in a town called ketu in Lagos State, a semi developed area. there wasn't any sort of farms around, all you would see are buildings, industrial houses and companies. Having to grow up in such area I never knew a practice such as agriculture existed apart from what I learnt in school but it was different from having to experience it, having to feel it, all I heard was theories. It is kind of hard to miss something that you are not aware of its existence but then everything gradually changed as my late grandmother continued to visit and came along with farm products from the village, well it is no longer a village anymore.
I slowly began to pay attention to the items she brought, it was different from the ones we bought in the market because it was fresh and more healthy, to an extent it taste better. So whenever we visited my grandmother's village, my first thought would be to follow them to the farm. those days my late grandmother doesn't farm anymore but she still had farm lands used by her relatives for farming. the more we visited the village the more my passion for agriculture grew. you have no idea how it feels to watch plants grow, to harvest whatever you need to eat by yourself, it is an unfathomable feeling that transcends all senses.
A picture of of farm land in my neighbourhood
After a while we moved from ketu to my father's new apartment he built in ikorodu. Compared to our former residential area this new neighbourhood is just like a village or should I say a town under development, a new site. On getting here it felt a little strange because everything was different but similar to my grandmother's village. During those days the primary occupation of most people in this area was farming and raring of animals. Two things I love the most existing in one place which is raring of livestock animals and farming.
I fell in love with our new home instantly, I was really happy having to have something close to a wild life experience. we have two land here, one is where our home was built and the other is just an empty fenced plot of land but never knew my father agricultural fantasies were similar to mine. The more my late grandmother came to visit in those days, gradually she taught us how to farm, my dad really paid a lot of attention to it. that was how it all began. We were not the only one farming in the area so borrowing some farming tools and ideas were not difficult.
In those days we don't buy vegetables or fruits such as mangoes, pawpaw, watermelon, pineapple, banana, plantains, lemon e.t.c. there was abundance of it, even if you want to buy from someone it was as cheap as purchasing a sachet water. We were galavanting in the joy of never having to worry about what to eat or spend too much on farm products, such were the kind of joy we felt. though there was not much infrastructure available such as roads, stable means of transportation, pharmacy, clinics which are also essential to human survival but we never truly needed much of it because we were eating sufficient healthy meals and we had a lot of herbs at our disposal.
As lovely as it was to be privileged to plant what we consume there was an issue that serve as an hindrance not just to us but for every farmer, thinking about it, it is the problem that resulted to the use of technology in agriculture. The issue of preservation of farm products. For every farmer it is always a time of joy when the time eventually comes to harvest their crops, the joy is unmatched but after harvesting especially for farmers who engage in large scale farming they find themselves struggling with how to preserve the crops harvested and for farmers who can't, this factors forced most farmers to sell their farm produce at a cheap price most especially perishable goods.
The moment farm produce don't have a means of preservation, it perishes. Which prevents it from lasting till the period of another harvest. When this happens it result to famine or scarcity due to in availability of farm produce but with the advent of technology it is a game changer for every farmer. We now have lot of preservatives methods offered by technology to reduce the rate at which our farm produce perishes. With this new invention comes it consequences.
As a result of technology to grow our crops, application of chemicals for preservation e.t.c the nutrition level of our farm produce has reduced compared to the way it used to be. Is it a fair price to pay for sustainable feeding? Honestly I can't say!!!! the fact remains, the purpose of the integration of technology in agriculture is for sustainable feeding which means prevention of scarcity and perishing of farm products but even with that, farm produce is barely affordable. Now we find ourselves buying less nutritional farm produce for high cost, it makes me wonder what exactly is the point of it.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Technology and profit" in hive learners community.
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