Newspapers reported sometimes last week that Nigeria’s population was approaching 190 million. Majority of those who read the report and those who saw it in the social media did not think of how the limited land mass of Nigeria will feed these millions of mouths now and particularly in the future when the country’s population approach 250 million or more.
Also recently, the Food and Agricultural Organisation, an organ of the United Nations warned of a looming food crisis in North East Nigeria and that there might be scarcity of food in most parts of Northern Nigeria about mid 2018. With climate change which has dried up rivers in the Sahelian parts of Northern Nigeria particularly in the North East area and the inability of those in the North East Nigeria to go about their agricultural activities, the federal government should be worried about the implications of climate change and the rapidly rising population of the country. It should also come out with policies that would enable the country to check the menace of rising population of Nigeria with its undesirable effects on the country’s growth.
On how to feed the increasing mouths that are daily joining the country’s population, I imagine that the government must be proactive if it is to meet the needs of our growing population as we go deeper into the 21st century. There should be official population policy for the country, especially as it relates to its rapidly increasing population and what government is doing in that direction. Unfortunately, the government is keeping mum on the issue.
As I continue to think of what should be government’s policy on the vexed population issue, I remember that one of the most significant agricultural breakthroughs of the 20th Century was the discovery of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), in 1953 by Watson and Crick. In a way, DNA is the “secret of life.” DNA and the ensuing manipulation variously called “genetic engineering,” “gene-splicing,” and “recombinant DNA” have together made possible the modification of existing species of plants and animals and even, the creation of new species.
It is certain that technology will continue to be our major food saviour as we progress into the 21st century. There is no doubt that science and technology will continue to be in the saddle in this century. As we move deeper into this century, our educational system will continue to emphasise mathematics, science, technical and commercial skills and move us away from the humanities.
The plough and the application of fertilisers and pesticides revolutionised agriculture in the 20th century. They made agricultural production much easier and very profitable, particularly in Europe and America where both the plough and fertiliser were much in use. Africa did not embrace the plough and fertilisers and pesticides until a few decades ago. The result has been widespread food shortages across the African continent. Climate change has also come to compound the problem of African countries.
What technological breakthroughs might occur in agriculture as we go deeper into the 21 century that will make the world cope with its increasing population? There will be advances in science and technology the way that we cannot imagine today resulting in safer Genetically Modified foods. Scientists say there will be upgrading of the protein content of the cereal grains and other crops through biotechnology, there will also be better soil management techniques that would permit the use of more tropical rain forest for increased agricultural production.
Also, as we go deeper into the 21st century, there will be better biological control of harmful insects and diseases, as well as better control and eradication of tsetse fly, the vector that causes sleeping sickness, thereby opening up the tropical areas for better agricultural cultivation. In addition, there will be improved weather prediction using better satellite technology for better weather prediction and improved agricultural production.
Also, there will be more usage of biotechnology in fixing nitrogen for new groups of plants, thus reducing the need for commercial fertilizer. There will also be production of grains like rice, wheat, and maize without the need for male plant parts, by the process of apomixes and the desalination of seawater and use of biotechnology to produce salt-tolerant crops, thus permitting human habitation and agricultural production in lands now unused.
