Organic foods:Stakeholders urge govts to create jobs, others

Group picture of stakeholders during the 2018 National Organic Agriculture Business Summit held in Lagos

The various governments in Nigeria have been urged to pursue the commitment to create the 700,000 jobs in the agricultural sector using the organic sub-sector and to take advantage of several market opportunities worth 90 billion dollars for organic produce and products outside Nigeria.

These are some of the issues raised via a communiqué issued at the end of the 2018 National Organic Agriculture Business Summit held in Lagos.

The participants also urged the Federal, States and Local Governments of Nigeria to fulfill their commitments to the concerned Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 2(Zero Hunger), Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

They also asked that the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, agricultural research institutes and universities should prioritize organic agriculture in their research activities.

The other issues raised were

·        That the National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) should drive the mainstreaming of organic agriculture into existing curricula in tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria.

·        That yearly budgetary allocations of Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Health, Industry, Trade & Investment and Environment, as well as other Nigerian financial institutions and parastatals should address appropriate organic agriculture issues in Nigeria.

·        That the relevant national, governmental, non-governmental and private organizations support the National Organic Agriculture Business Summit UNESCO, IFAD and other programmes under embassies in Nigeria should support organic agriculture activities

·        That Nigeria should form her own Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) committees for quality assurance of organic produce and products.

·        That there is the need for adoption of organic living, which comprises of consumption of organic food and products, concern for the environment, for overall wellbeing.

·        The need for increased organic market share in the global market for Nigerian produce, products and services; BioFach is an example (holds mid February every year at Nuremberg, Germany) and other related exhibitions need to be explored