Organic farming capable of boosting food sufficiency — Expert


Some farmers strongly believe that organic farming is capable ensuring food sufficiency in Nigeria, following the global debates on the sustainability of organic agriculture and the need for Genetically Modified foods (GMO).
Although organic farming is new in Nigeria, Mrs Oluyinka Odusanya, National Secretary, Organic Network in Nigeria is optimistic that its sustainability would boost all sections of farming.
Odusanya, popularly called ‘Lady organic,’ told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday that over 85 per cent of Uganda’s farming production was organic because farmers had embraced it.
“Organic Agriculture is sustainable, right now in Uganda, 85 per cent, cutting across all farmers are into organic farming.
“If we want it to be sustainable in Nigeria everybody must be involved,” she said.

Speaking on the process of organic fertiliser, Odusanya told NAN that farmers were yet to understand the formation, adding that the more the manure, the faster the securing process.

Securing process is the period of which the animal dung (of goat, cow and chicken, also rabbits but never pigs) is heaped in a pit between one to three months to expense the heat.

“The period and process of getting organic fertiliser depend on the quantity. Organic fertiliser is a composition from wastes on your farm, already made organic fertiliser can be done in your farm.

“From your animal wastes in the farm, a combination of three, minimum of two, the cow, chicken or goat, or rabbit but pigs are not acceptable.

“Like if you have a truck of such within a month, your fertiliser is ready for use.
”The ones that take up to three months are maybe of one or two bags. In other words, the bigger your manure the faster the securing stage.
“There may be scheduled turning of the waste may be weekly and after four weeks you notice that the heat in the manure is no longer there, then the fertiliser is ready,” she explained.
On the part of the Federal Government supporting organic agriculture, Odusanya said that a little had been done but there was still so much to be done to get to the point of acceptance.
“We cannot really say that the Federal Government is not doing enough to support organic agriculture in Nigeria because we now have the organic desk under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
“The awareness is just coming up in Nigeria, in the next five years we will all accept organic agriculture because it is a healthy choice.
“From what we spend on health, importation, production and processing methods of our foods in Nigeria, nobody will tell us that we need to sit up and support organic agriculture.

“On the other hand, we should be careful as so many deadly chemicals (like herbicides, pesticides among others) are being used to produce our food,” she said.

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