The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), on Tuesday says it has taken steps to enhanced the productivity of small holders farmers in Nigeria through agricultural mechanisation.
Dr Daniel Willy, Senior Manager, Policy, Agribusiness and Commercialisation, AATF and Interim MD-Agridrive Nigeria Ltd, said this at a news conference in Abuja on plans to boost farmers productivity through “Pyrochemy” technology.
PyroChemy is a technology that could take any type of agricultural waste, heat it without oxygen and break it down into two major parts, vapour (fuel) and solid similar to charcoal.
He said that the foundation plans to roll out a Mechanisation Hub Model, which entailed Farmer Aggregation and bringing services closer to farmers among others.
Willy said that there would be bundling of mechanisation services with Agro-inputs to strengthen Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs).
He said that there would be farmers training and capacity strengthening on agribusiness and GAPs, gender mainstreaming and youth engagement.
Willy said that the mission of AATF was to transform livelihood of farmers in Africa through innovative agricultural technologies.
Mr Simon Ighofose, lead partner, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, PyroGenesys Ltd., said the testing of the Pyrochemy technology in Nigeria was imperative because of the vast arable land Nigeria possessed.
” PyroGenesys has invented a technology which is patented; the technology is called Pyrochemy.
“This technology can take any type of agricultural waste, heat it without oxygen and break it down into two major parts.
“The first part is a vapour, which is a fuel; we burn that vapour to generate renewable electricity and renewable heat.
“The second part is a solid similar to charcoal, but it is a very special form of carbon; we upgrade it into a biofertiliser.
“We then supply that biofertiliser back to the farmers from whom we initially obtained the waste.
“This gives farmers a locally produced biofertiliser that can outperform imported inorganic NPK, which reduces soil fertility; soil fertility needs carbon to become more fertile.’’
He said that when farmers used the biofertiliser, they enriched their soils.
Ighofose said that the technology tackled post-harvest losses, mechanisation, bio-fertiliser production, biogas power production and climate-smart agriculture.
He listed rural development and industrialisation, job creation for the youths and women, boosting food production and food security.(NAN)
