Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Food Security Group

The pilot study on soil testing and soil productivity index ratings of small holder farmers (to generate digitalized soil maps as a management tool in the country) began with Benue and Kebbi states. The third state Ebonyi, one of the eight focal states under the Nigerian Agricultural Policy Project (NAPP) and the Nigerian Agricultural Policy Activity (NAPA) was our next port of call.

The pilot study team comprised of faculty and graduate students of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, Joseph Sarwuaan Tarka University Makurdi and ADPs personnel of the 13 Local Government Areas (LGAs). We visited 10 farmer fields in each of the 3 council wards of the 13 LGAs in the state. Although for two LGAs (due to the distance) we visited only two council wards as against the 3 council wards defined in the study. To ensure we met gender requirements, we had female graduate students on the team. The students and ADP personnel were guided to build their capacity for taking soil samples practically in the field for the different soil parameters under investigation. The sampling of soils from the farmer fields lasted for 10 days.