In a bid to curb the current food crisis in Nigeria, experts in the agricultural sector has advised Nigerians to adopt the use organic farming which they say would improve soil productivity, boost produce yield and reduce food crisis in Nigeria.
Climate change advocate and trainer for the multiplier group for organic agriculture, Mrs Stella Uzochukwu-Dennis while speaking at the knowledge centre for organic agriculture workshop in Abuja on Friday emphasized the need for organic agriculture stating that Nigerians should engage in subsistence farming and use organic manures which will reduce over-dependence on International bodies to feed the nation.
Stella explained that the practice of organic agriculture will ensure food sufficiency for the nation, reduce use of fertilizer and chemicals whilst improving seed sustainability.
Meanwhile, Stella noted that the 2- day workshop will train farmers, students and extension workers which aim at demystifying the practice of organic farming adding farmers must be intentional about the practice to ensure food security.
“We have about 20 of us who are learning about the agriculture. So KCOA, which is the knowledge of organic agriculture in Africa, is one of the organizations that has seen to us since for West Africa, Nigeria is one of the countries that were chosen that speaks English.
“The whole essence is just to tell them, you know, like today there’s reality on ground. A lot of people thought they were already doing organic agriculture, but they got to know that they weren’t practicing organic agriculture because organic agriculture is very intentional. We have to be intentional about it to be able to get it right”.
Coordinator Abuja Chapter of Association of Organic Practitioners of Nigeria, and a sustainable agriculture and food security expert trained in UK, Mrs Saidat Shonoiki stated that knowledge capacity about organic farming is key which will bring about positive attitude towards farming.
“They believe organic is all about you want to go and stress me, you want to go and do it. No, it’s about knowledge.
“In other climes in the Western world, farmers are the richest. So how can we go back to that? In those days, cocoa farmers are the richest. So let’s go back.
Let’s encourage challenge in agriculture. Let them be motivated and then they have access to the knowledge and the minimal support system they need to have. We’ll continue to see the change we want to see.”
Shonoiki emphasized the need for backyard farming and strong advocacy for organic farming to ensure food sufficiency in Nigeria.
“Let’s go back to family farming, backyard farming. Let it be a strong advocacy. We have learned that and now have been abandoned.
“Let people have access to it. I’m a beneficiary of that family farming when I was growing up and I see the value in it. We are never short of basic food like curry, like yam, like maize, even our vegetables.
“We need to take it serious. It’s one of the UN declaration. Family farming is there. Go and look at it because they have research. They have seen that family farming is one of the things, the other is for food security in the world.” She added.
The workshop was organized and sponsored by Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology in Africa (KCOA) and Fédération Nationale pour l’Agriculture Biologique – (FENAB)
