Akhenaten:

You are wrong. All of Northern Nigeria has fertile soil. The Sahel region, which is a large grassland has the most fertile soil in Africa.

I will post a map of the entire Sahel region. Grasslands are the most productive regions in the world in terms of agriculture, when the soil is used properly.

Tropical rainforest are never good to grow food extensively, because they lack many nutrients required for a successful harvest.

eku_bear:

@Akhenaten: I can believe that the middle belt is more suitable for growing crops than the SW (for logistic reasons, not fertility/rainfall reasons), but it is almost impossible for this to be true for the North (for obvious reasons.)

Certainly it is not true that the soil in the north is more fertile than that of the south. In any case, if you want high crop yields you should be using fertilizer anyway. Rainfall is probably the larger determining factor for crop fields; natural fertility of the land is sucked out pretty quickly anyways with industrial farming and needs to be replenished with artificial means (fertilizer.)

This Sahel/rainforest hypothesis of yours sounds strange, and not very credible. If you have some sort of research supporting it, please provide a link.

jason123:

It has to be the middle belt not the north

aloy/emeka:

Do you know that the use of "middle belt"  is considered offensive in Nigeria now?

aloy/emeka:

Do you know that the use of "middle belt"  is considered offensive in Nigeria now?

eku_bear:

@Akhenaten: I would be more interested in a study discussing the relative yields of agriculture in the South vs Middle Belt and other areas. It isn't even clear to me that what currently exists in the SW of Nigeria fits the definition of a rainforest. Perhaps 100, 200 years ago, but things have changed.

Your hypothesis seems suspect, to me.

Akhenaten1:

Agricultural yields are much higher up North than in the Southern region of Nigeria, which is mostly tropical.

Ekiti and Kwara State are part of the Sahel region and the land is very fertile, but for the most part, Yorubaland is tropical.

And it is not a hypothesis, it is a fact. Tropical rainforest have poorer soil. Poor soil = lower agricultural yields.

It would seem that you have a hard time losing my brother. Just give up, I am very knowledgeable about this topic. I have traveled extensively in the Sahel region in West Africa.

There would be much higher agricultural yields if the African farmers used modern techniques instead of subsistence farming.

Akhenaten1:

Compiling the information for you would be a cumbersome task, and I do not have the time to find these sources. I provided you with some sources already, which discusses how the poor soil quality in rainforest deplete the soil of its nutrients.

If you are from a farming community, you would know this. Once the precious topsoil is depleted, it would be pretty hard to grow crops and erosion occurs. This is a fact and this has been known for ages.

If you ever lived in Nigeria, most people know that the majority of food products come from the North and the Middle Belt. Why do you think the South-West is facing food shortages? The North basically feeds Nigeria. This is another fact.

I advise you not to argue about something you know nothing about. Rainforest soil is not suitable for grain crops. Sugar cane and palm oil is suitable for rainforest soil, but not other agricultural products.

Becomrichn:

From satellite pictures, Yorubas have alot of farming villages, more than 2000 farming villages. so we cant go wrong. It is the Igbos who have problem and Rivers, akwa ibom who have problem.

Becomrichn:

Yorubaland has more than enough food to feed nigeria.  more than half of the population are farmers.

The issue is, we had bad state governor from some years who never cared about agric. Only govt can make agric better. mechanized farm is where to go. dont give them money, give them equipment.

What awolowo did was form cooperative and they had equipment.

And the people borrow the equipment to farm, since most people can afford it. The equipment come to clear thier farms. they pay the driver.

must important is preservation of agric product. You want to be able to do that.   And the state should be ready to buy all product.  You want to invest in supermarket too to sell. even in other state and outside nigeria.

Akhenaten1:

How come the East is never mentioned with food scarcity? Sorry we have more than enough of yam to provide for us. The East in good hands. Plus, we get a good amount of our food from Enugu, Ebonyi, Benue and Kogi State. We are ok my friend.

Akhenaten1:

How come the East is never mentioned with food scarcity? Sorry we have more than enough of yam to provide for us. The East in good hands. Plus, we get a good amount of our food from Enugu, Ebonyi, Benue and Kogi State. We are ok my friend.

oludashmi:

You just finished implicating yourself. . .maybe you were not mentioned cos you are lower in terms of farming, you do more of business.
You mean all those tomatoes I see in the SE are grown in your land. . .sorry oo, they are [b]all [/b]from the north
What about the cattles
What about those yams
And then beans
You even mentioned benue and Kogi as if they are your states

aloy/emeka:

Rice and yams also come from Ebonyi, don't you know?. You haven't heard of Abakaliki rice before?. Abakaliki is the highest producer of rice in West Africa. Go and study your social sciences.

alj harem:

that is right abakaliki produces rice

but about highest producer in west afica, i really do not know much about that

aloy/emeka:

I've read it many times. If you disagree tell us who produces rice most in West Africa.

alj harem:

not too sure but i think it is in the middle-belt of nigeria sure as niger state, benue and i am also sure of kwara etc

but a good number is also grown in senegal and benin republic also ivory coast

i have not really done the research but i think rice in nigeria is done in the middle-belt state

aloy/emeka:

At least you agreed that you are not sure. Middle belt states produce mainly legumes and not rice. Abakaliki is the largest producer of rice in West Africa. They should teach you that in primary school unless you are Tunmi who learns her own Naija social studies from oyibo.

Do you know the so called goro eaten by the hausas as stimulant is produced mainly in Yorubaland yet people call it Hausa kola?.

bashr4:

enugu state has the biggest poultry farm in nigeria ,it is located in ngwo , also anambra and imo are know for fishing farming especially cat fish(point and kill fish) why do u think its most popular in igbo land . the whole southern states produces palm oil and groundnut oil, salt, beef(igbo goatee is genetically different from nothern goatee) and the earterners prefer the southern goat as the meat is more tasty , honestly the south can do without the north, turkey,garri, cassava,rice, tomatoe ,vegetables, i can go on and on, every region can survive on its own , biafran hunger did not affect everybody the war did not reach my village in aguata anambra and they wer just fine also parts of ogbaru,imo state were ok.