As the planting season gets underway, Dizengoff has advised farmers across the country not to take pest control for granted in preparing their fields for cultivation.
The company’s Manager in charge of Agrochemicals, Stephen Adeniran gave the advise in a chat in Lagos, while previewing progress so far made in the agric sector in recent times to achieve food sufficiency for the country.
He said: “Going by the experiences of the recent past in the sector, it will be suicidal for any farmer to overlook or take the issue of pest control with levity not only during cultivation and after, but very importantly during the process of preparing the field for planting. It starts from there, and this also goes for other agric forms.
“Pests are a great threat, especially to any crop producing enterprise and it’s a serious issue. Because they have capability to reduce, and in some instances, cause total crop failure as we have witnessed in parts of this country in recent past where entire farming communities were devastated by the invasion of pests,” he added.
He explained that pest control is an important part of crop production, which must start with preparing the field for cultivation, and it is a key part of the mix during and after planting.
He advised that farmers see it as such in order to achieve overall success during harvest no matter the farm type or scale of operation, urging the farmers to start with pest control.
While addressing the issue of efficacy and safety of chemicals in dealing with the menace of pests, Adeniran, however, emphasised the importance of choosing the right type of agrochemicals, adhering to the label instruction on usage and using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
He said: “Take maize crop farming, for instance, where farmers were caught off guard and experienced huge losses about two years ago due to the devastation of their farmlands by pests. The resulting bad harvest of that year was felt for a long time. So we say take enough precautions by using appropriate agrochemicals beginning with the land preparation stage to control the breeding of harmful insects before you cultivate your land.
“There might be eggs of harmful insects hibernating in the soil and you need to get rid of them before planting. But, of course, care must be taken to get appropriate chemicals that will not harm or alter the nature nor contaminate the crop in the long run.”
In the case of maize for instance, he singled out “Pyrinex 48EC” which he said could be safely used for land preparation before cultivation.
According to him, Pyrinex 48EC from Dizengoff Nigeria could be used to ensure balance between efficacy and safety. “It is one such broad spectrum insecticide that has proven very effective for land preparation because of its dual qualities that is useful as an ovicide as well as a larvaecide.”
Also speaking, Antti Ritvonen, CEO, Dizengoff called on farmers to partner with Dizengoff for the success of their investment in agriculture and the achievement of a food secure Nigeria.