Group trains 100 community farmers on agroecology

Group trains 100 community farmers on agroecology

Agroecology
By Olukayode Babalola
Keffi (Nasarawa State) June 13, 2024 (NAN) Health Of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), says it has trained at least 100 community farmers in 15 states on agroecology.

The group said that the gesture was part of its efforts to encourage farmers to adopt organic farming methods.

The group’s Programme Manager for Communities and Culture, Mr Cadmus Enade, disclosed this to newsmen on the sideline of a one-day agroecology practical training in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa state on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the training is, “Solving the food and climate crisis: Practical training on agroecology.”

According to Enade, agroecology is a farming system in line with nature, promotes food sovereignty and sufficiency and safer than Generically Modified Organisms (GMOs) system of farming.

“We have overtime discovered that GMO is harmful to people’s health and wellbeing, the environment, animals and biodiversity around.

“So, this training is for community farmers on how best they can use agroecology practices to enhance their food production and livelihood.

”This is because agroecology is not just a practice but also a scientific way of producing safe food and making it sufficient for farmers.

“It involves using organic produce, organic items that you can find around your environment.

“It also means producing crops without any form of chemical involvement.

”With this, we are encouraging local farming systems,” Enade said.

He further said that the method helps climate change adaptations, adding that, in spite of government’s approval of some genetically modified crops and seeds, the introduction of GMOs had resulted in the increase in ailments and diseases.

“We have also seen biodiversity losses as a result of people using genetically modified seeds in their farms.

“As we speak, we have genetically modified foods in our food shelves in Nigeria today.

“So, we are begging the government to go back to the drawing board and take a closer look at what they introduced into the country, the kind of seeds they approved and gave to farmers to plant,” Enade said.

He urged farmers to come together and put their seeds together in a natural seeds bank that would protect their seed variety.

He said that aside rural farmers from the state, other participants were drawn from Kano, Kwara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo States, among others.

Also speaking in an interview, the National Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Dr Yunusa Halidu, described the training as apt and timely

Halidu gave assurance that the knowledge acquired from the training would be cascaded to rural farmers.

“Conventional and traditional way of farming is the way to go.

“It is using local way of farming, preserving your feeds, instead of using chemical fertilisers.

”You can use your local fertiliser, like the cow dungs, poultry dungs and other things that you can use to conserve your environment,” he said.

Also, a representative of Farmers’ Development Union in Kwara, Mrs Funke Ojomu, described the training  as helpful.

Ojomu promised to step down the training to members of the union back in Kwara.

According to her, the practical session exposed the advantages of organic fertiliser over its chemical-based substitutes.

She said that she had resolved to start putting into practice agroecology in her farm. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

OB/DE/USO
Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Sam Oditah