Blessing Abah
An agricultural consultant, Mr. Sunday Bassey, CEO Sonekia Limited has called for a new technical focus in terms of mass deployment of cost-efficient, sustainable and more productive technologies such as mini-tractors for the nation’s agricultural sector, as Nigeria seeks alternatives to crude oil as a source of revenue.
Speaking at an SME forum in Lagos recently, Bassey stated that, “It is in our bid to close these huge identified gaps that we at Sonekia Limited, a Czech-Nigerian Joint Venture company have embarked on tractorisation projects in Nigeria, with the objective of returning the youths back to the farm, by means of our multi- purpose mini-tractors and accessories. “
He further stated that the simple, easy to operate mini tractors fascinate the rural youths and encourage them to embrace agriculture and in the long term help to create wealth, reduce unemployment, reduce crime, and enhance food security.
Bassey informed that the tractorisation programme has been adopted by the Lagos, Nasarawa, and Delta States governments, as well as individual farmers and cooperatives. Neighbouring West African nations such as Ghana, Togo, Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, as well as Angola have equally adopted the programme.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture disclosed recently that the country requires about 300,000 agricultural tractors to meet the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
Bassey, who is also CEO Sunnix Technologies has called for improved quality of water supplied to Nigeria’s rural and urban centres via the deployment of new water purification technology like the PureH2O System.
Speaking at the SME forum in Lagos, Bassey noted that, “current challenges of potable water supply require light-weight, solar-powered mobile purification systems designed for places where safe drinking water is a challenge.”
“PureH2O Water purification units are optimised in terms of logistics; they are containerised so that they can be swiftly be transported and put in places where they are needed. The machines are designed as self-erecting units, which is easily installed using local labour. All the machines are scalable and can easily be linked together to accommodate large communities with clean drinking water.”
Speaking further, Bassey stated that the PureH2O water purification system eliminates heavy metals, organic chemicals, bacteria and virus.
“It utilises Reverse Osmosis eliminates unwanted contaminants in your drinking water. The unit has two barriers – the Reverse Osmosis membrane and the UV sterilisation lamp. The purification process will remove more than 99.5 per cent of all contaminants, organic materials, chemicals and pesticides.”
According to the UN, in Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to search for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.
