The Country
Coordinator, Ecological Organic Agriculture initiative in Nigeria (EOA) Dr.
Olugbenga Adeoluwa has disclosed in an interview with Food Farm News that efforts have commenced towards forwarding a
bill for an Act to the National Assembly and that the bill would preferably be
sent as an executive bill through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development (FMARD). Excerpts...
Could you introduce
yourself sir?
I am Dr. Olugbengba Adeoluwa, the Country Coordinator of
Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative in Nigeria (EOA).
What do you think is
very necessary for the effective operation of organic farming as regards
conformity to practise?
The major step is to put in place an organic agricultural
bill that will be enacted into an Act for effective regulation of the sub
sector. Already practitioners and stakeholders have started working towards
presenting that through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
development as an executive bill. We have begun preparation since 2016 as
stakeholders meeting in Abuja where it was agreed that a bill be presented.
After Abuja, we have read the contents of what to be presented in Awka and
Lagos, and it will still be presented again here. We belief that when an Act is
put in place, then every other aspects of the organic agriculture in the
country will be well addressed and that is
why putting up a bill is very
essential by the stakeholders which we are already working on.
How soon the bill
would come up?
Currently in the country, the organic farming structure does
not have the fund to drive the bill but we are hoping to seek executive
assistance through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to
present the bill as executive bill for easy passage at the National Assembly.
Then what power will
the national organic task force use to execute its term of reference without an
Act?
Well, the task force for now will be using private sector
bye law to ensure sanity and standard in the organic practice within the
private sector especially among the major registered practitioners, but not
until we have an Act through a bill that their services can be extended to the
public sector. As the organic farming is strongly driven by the private sector,
for now, what this national task force
can do is to reinforce private sector bye laws that will be used to compel
compliance and anybody that is found not complying with the organic practice
system must be ready to pay the price as their names will be published on the
website for consumers and other stakeholders to know those that are complying
and those that are not.
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