Uyo Organic Agriculture Training: Setting agenda for food sufficiency in Nigeria
Nigeria can feed itself with quality food free of chemicals and additives if every household actively participates in organic farming.
This was the consensus at the ongoing multiplication training on Organic Agriculture held at El Siena Venture, 36 Obio Enang Street, off Idoro Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital between 27th and 29th July, 2022.
The three-day Uyo Organic Agriculture Training, the first in the series, is organised by the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria, NOAN, a non-governmental organization established to act as the unifying force for all Nigerian stakeholders active in organic agriculture, in conjunction with the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture, KCOA.
Resource persons and participants at the training drawn from all walks of life were unanimous that Nigeria can tackle the perennial food insecurity by prioritising organic agriculture.
“”The fact is that organic food can indeed feed the nation. Organic can match conventional yields and perform better in bad weather than conventional agriculture. Increased food production on a national scale can be achieved by small farmers that use organic farming practices,” the participants admitted at the end of the first day of the workshop on Wednesday.
Speaking on the basic practices, benefits, and principles of organic agriculture, the Master Trainer, Mr. Clement Akpan posited that it is the high time Nigeria went completely organic and urged the participants to embrace the approach.
He described organic agriculture as a comprehensive approach to production management that fosters and improves the health of the agro-ecosystem, taking into account biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity.
According to him, to succeed as organic farmers there is need for common vision about the future of organic agriculture, motivation to work with nature, be ready to try out new things and the willingness to continuously learn from experiences.
He expressed dismay that Nigeria and Akwa Ibom in particular have not been utilising their potential in organic farming.
The Master Trainer regretted that although Akwa Ibom was the first state to be recognized as organic agriculture practitioner in Nigeria, the state was deleted in 2022 and expressed happiness that stakeholders in the state have restored the state to it’s proper in the comity of organic agriculture practitioners only second to Ibadan in Oyo State.
He explained that the Uyo Organic Agriculture Training is one of strategies to create awareness in organic farming with view to motivating more people to join the rank and sued for government support in this direction in addition to funding research, information, promotion and policy formation and regulation.
In his presentation, Mr Ime Bernard, harped on the need for the skill development and communication and enjoined participants to develop any of the skills in organic agriculture – cultivation, processing, production, marketing, promotion and consuming- and develop with a view to practicing and sharing same others.
Mr Bernard noted that skill acquisition and development is very crucial in the success of organic agriculture, urging the participants to pass what they learn in training with others.
Participants who spoke at the end of the training thanked organisers of the programme and pledged to put the knowledge to good use.
Mr Emmanuel Udoh rated the training very high and commended KCOA and NOAN for the initiative, while calling for inclusion of more people and variety of trainers in subsequent training to promote value chain and teamwork in the process.
Dr Archibong Umoh reasoned that the Uyo Organic Agriculture Training should be regular.
To be continued…
