Experts Make Case for Improved Organic Agriculture Practices

To make healthy food available and accessible to Nigerians, experts in the agriculture sector have called for increased organic agriculture practices across the country.

Specifically, the President of the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria (AOAPN), Victor Idowu Olugbemiga Olowe, made the call on the sideline of a two-day capacity building workshop for stakeholders, held at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun state.

Olowe, who noted that the training was meant for professionals in the agriculture sector, said it was an initiative of the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture and funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) from Germany.

According to him, the training was anchored by the organic agriculture professionals in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, noting that the movement of the association was also established in FUNAAB.

“It is a project called the centre for knowledge hub and it is being funded by GIZ from Germany. In the region of West Africa, it is anchored in Senegal and Nigeria is one of the collaborators, so a suburb is also present in Nigeria and it is being handled by our association. “One of the activities is to train multipliers and that is what is holding today at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).”

Speaking about the training, Olowe explained that the project was also aimed at improving the capacity of extension agents to improve their expertise. “They are the people who relate closely with the farmers. So, by the time they are trained as multipliers in this project, they will now go out and multiply. We are expecting each trainer at the end of the day to have trained between 200 and 500 farmers from their various zones,” he added.

source  Agro Nigeria