Stakeholders in agriculture on Tuesday called on all tiers of government and the private sector to invest in agroecology to enhance food and nutrition security in the country.
The stakeholders made the call at the ongoing National Summit on Agroecology and Public-Private Partnership, holding in Abuja.
Agroecology refers to sustainable farming that works with nature, utilising and integrating social, biological and agricultural sciences with traditional knowledge of farmers.
Mrs Suwaiba Dankabo, Deputy Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, said investment in agroecology would aid the preservation and promotion of indigenous seeds, seedlings and livestock for agro biodiversity.
According to Dankabo, agroecology is also a nature based solution to climate change.
The country director said the summit was to provide direction for increased public financing for agroecology in Nigeria and West Africa.
“The summit supports the facilitation of public private partnerships on agroecology that will further lead to adoption, scale up millions of farmers, and the transition to sustainable agricultural practices,’’ she said.
Speaking on the organisation’s Transformative Impact Fund project, Dankabo said that the three-year project was designed to improve food and nutrition security.
She added that it was also to “enhance agroecological skills of 120,000 Smallholder Women Farmers and young people, by facilitating access to early maturing seeds, seedlings, livestock, and poultry.
“Through agroecology budget monitoring, tracking and advocacy towards the expansion of fiscal spaces, rights holders will significantly benefit from budget increases and allocations in agriculture,’’ she added.
Dankabo said so far, the project has been implemented in Ondo, Delta, Ebonyi, Jigawa and the FCT.
Mr Samuel Kwasari the Chief Executive Officer of Be the Help Foundation, said that practicing agroecology would guarantee high quality farm produce.
According to Kwasari, about 75 per cent of food in supermarkets have chemical residues, which could be reduced through promoting community based farming, using natural wastes instead of chemical fertiliser to boost food production.
“The advantage of biofertiliser or natural fertiliser is that it helps microorganisms’ lives and plants, and remain in the soil for a number of years after application to break down organic matters.
“Organic manure is a sustainable means of fertilising the soil, while synthetic makes you dependent every time as it only last after the maturity of the crop.”
The foundation’s executive director, however, said there was need for more training of farmers to maximise the benefits of agroecology.
“The biggest barrier to agroecology is knowledge. We encourage more training so that farmers will be abreast with the practice and its huge benefits,’’ he said.
Mr Ibrahim Tanimu, Director, Planning and Policy Coordination, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said agroecology was a key component of attaining food security and self-sufficiency as the ministry strives to transform the nation’s food system.
“We have unveiled the dry season farming under the National Agriculture Growth Support Scheme, and we will soon unveil the wet season farming where we are supporting top priority commodities to enable us have abundant food and promote exportation of our cash crops,” he added.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit was organised by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security among other partners.(NAN)
