ActionAid Nigeria and the South Sahara Social Development Organisation (SSDO) have tasked federal, state, and local governments with supporting sustainable agroecology models for a result-oriented food system and massive food production.
Programme advisor, ActionAid, Blessing Ifemenam, gave the task at the Enugu Youth Summit on Agroecology and Food Systems organised by ActionAid in partnership with SSDO in Enugu at the weekend.
Ifemenam stated that agroecology was a climate-resilient sustainable approach that incorporated ecological principles into farming practices and emphasised the sustainable management of natural resources.
“We encourage the government to support sustainable models for food systems such as agroecological production owned by local communities.
“These are alternative models for producing, processing and distributing food that reduces greenhouse gas emissions,” she advised.
According to the programme advisor, the overall objective of the ActionAid Project is to improve the realisation of fundamental human and democratic rights.
“Improve sustainable livelihood resilience and protection for young people, especially young women living in marginalisation including in disaster and protracted content in Nigeria,” she said.
The executive director of SSDO, Dr Stanley Ilechukwu, said that agroecology presented a holistic practical pathway for transforming agriculture in Enugu State and the country.
Ilechukwu said that agroecology offered solutions that increase yields and ensure long-term environmental sustainability, bio-diversity preservation and climate resilience.
Prof. Dickson Achimugu, an ActionAid Researcher, said that people must move away from chemical pesticides, adding that most of them are poisonous to humans.
“We should go back to weeding to avoid chemicals; we can use bio-pesticides instead of chemical pesticides. The solution is to go back to what we used to do before,” he said.
He called on the government to change its policy and invest more money in organic farming, adding that the use of pesticides is dangerous to humans.
“There is a need for us to take action against the use of pesticides,” he explained.
Mr Mike Ogbuekwe, Special Adviser on Agriculture and Agro Industrialisation to Gov. Peter Mbah, said that the state government had begun establishing farm estates to create farm clusters in every ward.
Ogbuekwe urged the youths in the state to participate in the 260 wards of farm clusters as it would benefit them financially.
Some participants, Mr Jude Ugwu and Ngozi Odo, thanked the event organisers, saying that with the knowledge they got from the summit, it would be better for them to go back to the old way of farming by using organic fertilizer to stay healthy.
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