NAN-H-27
Agriculture
By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko
Ibadan, Dec. 15, 2016 (NAN) Dr Olugbenga Adeoluwa, the Vice President, Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria, on Thursday urged farmers to embrace “certified organic farming,’’ in order to improve their harvests and make more profit.
He gave the advice at a forum in Ibadan, jointly organised by the association’s Oyo-Osun Organic Agriculture Platform and the Oyo State Agriculture Development Programme Farmers’ Field School.
Adeoluwa, a lecturer in the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, said that organic agriculture standards and certification were important tools for organic agriculture business.
He said that with the adoption of certified organic system of farming, corresponding financial benefits were guaranteed.
“Organic agriculture practices can be profitable if appropriate steps are taken to get certified,’’ the agronomist said.
Adeoluwa, however, advised farmers to ensure they fully have assessed their businesses, before they rushed to become certified organic producers.
“You need to see if your enterprise has the capacity to become certified organic or not,” he said.
Adeoluwa, who is also the Coordinator, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Innovation platform for Organic Agriculture, said one of its aims was for each state to have a governor’s organic market.
“The markets will be at the state government secretariats, with the governor’s wives honored as the ‘Iyaloja’ of the market; it will help create employment for the youth,” he said.
In his address, the Oyo Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oyewole Oyewumi, said that it was essential for Nigerians to see agriculture as a lucrative business, rather than a development process.
“Today’s event will ginger all of us, more importantly the youths, to unique opportunities created by agriculture; it will be a catalyst to activate potentials in all of us.
“The state ministry of agriculture will continue to support the state ADP to establish efficient agricultural productivity and increase farmers’ incomes,” he said.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Prof. Isaac Aiyelagbe, stressed the need for increase in the visibility of farmers, adding that farmers were important development agents and must be visible.
He added that standards and branding of foodstuffs in the country should improve, to earn the respect of the customers.
“Fair pricing in such a way that farmers could cover their costs and continue in business is very important,” Aiyelagbe added. (NAN)
CC/AOS/PIO
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(Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Idonije Obakhedo)