The ActionAid Nigeria and South Sahara Social Development Organisation (SSDO) have implored federal, state, and local governments to support sustainable agroecology models for a result-oriented food system and massive food production.
The Programme Advisor, ActionAid, Blessing Ifemenam, stated this at the Enugu Youth Summit on Agroecology and Food Systems organised by ActionAid in partnership with SSDO in Enugu at the weekend.
According to Ifemenam, agroecology was a climate-resilient sustainable approach that incorporated ecological principles into farming practices and emphasised the sustainable management of natural resources.
She said: “We encourage the government to support sustainable models for food systems such as agroecological production owned by local communities.
“These are alternative models for producing, processing and distributing food that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.”
The programme advisor noted that the overall objective of the ActionAid Project is to improve the realization of fundamental human and democratic rights.
“Improve sustainable livelihood resilience and protection for young people, especially young women living in marginalization including in disaster and protracted content in Nigeria,” she said.
In his own remarks, the executive director of SSDO, Dr Stanley Ilechukwu, said that agroecology presented a holistic practical pathway for transforming agriculture in Enugu State and the country.
According to him, agroecology offered solutions that increase yields and ensure long-term environmental sustainability, bio-diversity preservation and climate resilience.
Also speaking, Prof. Dickson Achimugu, an ActionAid Researcher, said that people must move away from chemical pesticides, adding that most of them are poisonous to humans.
“We should go back to weeding to avoid chemicals; we can use bio-pesticides instead of chemical pesticides. The solution is to go back to what we used to do before,” he said.
He then called on the government to change its policy and invest more money in organic farming, adding that the use of pesticides is dangerous to humans.
“There is a need for us to take action against the use of pesticides,” he explained.
Mr Mike Ogbuekwe, Special Adviser on Agriculture and Agro Industrialisation to Gov. Peter Mbah, said that the state government had begun establishing farm estates to create farm clusters in every ward.