By Omolola Pedro
A non-governmental organisation, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), in a bid to ensure food safety, has urged the Federal Government to ensure that foods distributed in the country are safe for human consumption.
This was disclosed by the Executive Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, during a media training on food sovereignty, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he stressed the need to decolonise food systems in the country by reviving the culture of agroecology.
Speaking further at the event, Bassey noted that industrialised agriculture could be dangerous and had contributed largely to the challenge of climate change, and stressed the need to decolonise Nigeria’s agriculture for a variety of crops.
He said, “Without doubt, the decolonisation of agriculture is the way towards the preservation of crop and animal varieties, rebuilding our food systems, and thereby, recovering our culture”.
Similarly, the Project Coordinator of Alliance for Action on Pesticide, Donald Ofoegbu, in his presentation titled, “Transitioning to Agroecology: The Opportunity and Challenges”, explained that agroecology builds resilience against climate change and market shocks while empowering big and small producers.
Ofoegbu further disclosed that farmers were becoming poorer with the soil constantly reducing in terms of carbon and nutrients while advising the Federal Government to encourage agroecology, saying that it had 100 per cent pesticide free food and is safe.
