Health experts and nutritionists have advised that the consumption of organically produced food may reduce the risk of certain diseases, especially cancer. This has caused the world demand for organically produced food to double between 2004 and 2014. Many Nigerians have become more conscious of the food they consume, constantly checking food labels for the word ‘organic’.
Organic food production basically entails food production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics in livestock production as well as growth hormones and regulators. It is an integrated system that is sustainable, enhances soil fertility and maintains biological diversity.
Nigerian farmers however have reduced organic food production to only the use organic fertilizers(compost or manure), leaving out the other core aspects of organic farming. this system i have decided to call “faux organic farming”. the reasons for the development of this system, as well as the pros and cons of organic farming will be discussed in my next post.
Farmers and agro-processors have found a way of cashing-in into the rise in demand of organic food by labeling their produce as organically produced even when they are not. meanwhile only 0.02% of Nigeria’s cultivated arable land is used for organic food production. This happens because there are no regulatory bodies to verify the food items that are put in the market.
Do you have a preference for organic food and why? tell me what you think.
Abisola Oladele
Diary of a Nigerian Farmer 