Coalition Urges Upscaling Organic Agroecological Farming

Coalition, Organic and Agroecology Initiative (ORAIN) has called on farmers to embrace organic and agroecological farming practices to enhance food and nutrition security in the country.

ORAIN is a coalition of organic and agroecology organisations in Nigeria that seeks to encourage farmers and Nigerians to embrace organic and agroecological practices.

Agroecological practice is sustainable farming that works with nature. It is the application of ecological concepts and principles to farming.

The stakeholders made the call on Thursday in a zoom discussion on Upscaling Organic and Agroecological practices in Nigeria series, May 2024 Edition.

Speaking, Mrs Joyce Brown, Director of Programme, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), said that the coalition was promoting agroecology to protect the environment as well as Mother Earth and achieve food security.

She called on the government to further sensitise the masses on the economic importance of organic and agroecology farming.

“Agroecological practice is one of the keys ways to achieving food security in Nigeria and of course food sovereignty which is even more encompassing than food security,” she said.

She explained that another reason for promoting organic and agroecological practices was due to the understanding that industrial agriculture is not healthy.

” Another reason is the understanding that industrial agriculture is not healthy, rather it is compounding issues for the local farmers and even consumers.

” The destruction of ecosystems, chemicals, the introduction of DMOs, loss of biodiversity and climate change contributes its own impact to the agriculture food system,” she said.

Brown said that the change in the type of diet and food that people consumed was also another reason to practise organic farming.

” Agroecology is very very significant for the restoration of biodiversity, very important in terms of food production and in relation to climate resilience.

” Agroecology is one of the ways to achieve food security in Nigeria,” she said.

Brown said that the coalition had been engaging with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and other stakeholders to increase support for organic agriculture and agroecology.

She said the organisation was working to support local communities through radio discussions and online camping on production and consumption of local and healthy diets.

Ms Rebecca Osewa, Founder Chief Executive Officer, Yield Initiatives(UK), said that that initiative mission was to promote organic practices as well as its benefits to farmers and Nigerians.

In his presentation, A professor of Organic, Prof. Olugbenga Adeoluwa, University of Ibadan, called for sustainable policy to enhance organic and agroecology farming in the country.

Adeoluwa, the Coordinator of the Network of Organic Agriculture Researchers in Africa said that agriculture should also be seen from the business approach.

He said that organic agriculture was about a holistic production system that mostly depended on safe traditional practice.

” We are talking about a modern way that combines the safe traditional practice of agriculture with the same safe scientific innovation,” he said.

He there called on the media organisations to support the organic and agroecology through adequate media sensitisation