By EricJames Ochigbo
Experts on Monday tasked the Federal Government and the National Assembly on a National Policy Framework on Agroecology for a sustainable path to food sovereignty and ecological resilience in the country.
The experts made the call on the sideline of a stakeholders’ conference tagged “Advancing Agroecology Principles and Practice in Nigeria” organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), holding in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that agroecology involves optimising interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment while considering social factors.
It discourages use of inorganic fertilisers as a transformative approach to address climate change, food security, and ecosystem health
The experts argued that agroecology had long been practiced across Nigerian communities before being displaced by modern, chemical-intensive agriculture.
They called for an outright ban of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) describing it as a threat to human and environmental health.
In his remarks, a leading agroecology advocate, Dr Ifanyi Casmir, said that foreign agribusiness interests, driven by profit and large-scale chemical input sales, had overshadowed local knowledge systems.
According to him, this shift has led to environmental degradation, health risks, and food insecurity.
”Agroecology and organic crop production is the way for us to redeem ourselves from the EU ban placed on food and crops produced from this country.
”So this call cuts cross; we need to have a policy and framework to drive the policy, that is where we will require the intervention of the National Assembly.
”The Ministry of Agriculture should put together a draft Executive Bill to give a semblance of policy, or establish the framework for a semblance of policy for agroecology.
“We need it urgently if we are going to stem the tide of the interest of corporate interest in agriculture that is undermining the contribution of small holder farmers to food production in Nigeria.”
Similarly, Prof. Ado Garba, an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa urged farmers to adopt agroecology to avert food crisis.
Garba urged farmers to completely stop the use of synthetic fertiliser and agrochemicals saying that its alarming cost would lead to food crisis in the near future.
In the same vein, Prof. Olugbenga Adeoluwa said that GMOs distraught the chemistry of plants and the soil which led to several deadly potentials to human and environmental health.
Adeoluwa noted that empirical evidences had shown that GMOs and chemical-intensive agricultural practices was largely behind escalating health challenges like cancer and organ failures across the world.
He said that agroecoly was the way to go, adding that it had the capacity to feed the growing population of the country and meet export demands.
In her remarks, the Convener, Journalists Go Organic Initiative, Mrs Ebere Agozie urged all Nigerians to resuscitate cultural approaches to food and farming.
She said that western countries which introduced use for chemical farm inputs were returning to organic agriculture.
She urged journalists to champion awareness on the dangers of chemical and the need to adopt archeology for healthy food.(NAN)