Don Decries Excessive Use Of Chemical Fertiliser, Herbicides

The dean, Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Jos, Prof. Patrick Kwaghe, has decried the excessive use of chemical fertiliser and herbicides by farmers in Nigeria.

According to him, the development has led to a ban on agricultural produce from Nigeria by some Western countries.

Prof. Kwaghe spoke at the lunch of an organic vegetable/fruit market in Jos.

The project was put together by Oxfam in collaboration with COCIN Community Development Panyam (CCDP) and Urban Food Crews in Jos North and Jos South LGA, Supported by AGILE.

Named Gidan Gona Hub (Jos Organic Farmers Market), the market is for purely organic agricultural products like fruits, vegetables, fish that are grown naturally and free of artificial addictive, chemicals, preservatives or fertilizer.

According to him, the embargo is due to the fact that when those agricultural produce were exported, they tested them and found out that there was excessive use of chemicals in their production.

“So any initiative that uses organic method in agricultural production is a welcome idea,” he said.

The acting economies manager, Peggy Maimaji in her remarks said Oxfam sees urban farming as a critical answer to build urban resilience in cities like Jos.

She pointed out that the Urban Food Hive Project (UFH) was transforming urban agriculture into sustainable livelihood by empowering farmers using agroecology and organic farming to implement circular economies using simple methods like recycling organic waste into compost.