Stakeholders advocate for national framework on agro-biodiversity

As the debate around Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) thickens, stakeholders have advocated the development of a national framework on agro-biodiversity, to avail citizens of the rights of choice to what they eat.

The stakeholders stated their positions at a two-day National Stakeholders Workshop on Organic Agriculture and Agroecological Farming in Nigeria, organised by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Alliance for Action on Pesticides in Nigeria and Organic and Agroecology Initiative (ORAIN), Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and ActionAid among others.

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The experts stressed the need for a clear policy to allow farmers and consumers to choose their foods.

On the state of agriculture in Nigeria, participants noted several challenges in the sector which included the dependence on conventional systems, use of GMOs, heavy pesticide use, climate vulnerability, insecurity and climate change, post-harvest losses, land tenure systems as well as public spending inefficiencies.

Ikenna Donald Ofoegbu, project coordinator at Heinrich Boell Foundation called on the government to develop a National Agroecology strategy, increase funding for the initiative, implement land use policies favouring organic farming and protect Nigeria’s food sovereignty.

On food safety, he recommended the establishment of certification and labelling systems, promoting access to organic inputs, implementing training programmes for farmers and developing a national framework for agrobiodiversity.

For Legislators at federal and state levels, the stakeholders advocated enacting supportive legislation for agroecology, increased budget allocations for agroecology, support for land tenure reforms, and providing training programs and grants for organic input access.

In his remarks, Olugbenga Adeoluwa, a professor, at the Department of Soil Resources Management, at the University of Ibadan and national coordinator of the Organic and Agroecology Initiative (ORAIN) stressed the need for citizens to have a choice of the kinds of foods they eat.

“As a scientist, I know that GMOs are not safe and that I can say categorically because there is quite a lot of data on this that provides information on likely adverse effects of GMOs. When it comes to advocacy against GMOs,” Adeoluwa said.

“I think it is not against the right to food, it is a right to food policy and an average citizen should have the right to decide which food he/she consumes. If citizens choose to reject GM foods because of perception, then they should have the right.”

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“What we are clamouring for is that GM foods should be well labelled as it is done in other civilized countries globally.”

The professor maintained that many GM products are glyphosate tolerant which has been linked to carcinogenic effects, noting that the plants themselves may not respond to such but that does not mean that the plant has not uptake the glyphosate.

He listed the benefits of organic farming, including healthy food production, “Food that you do not have to be afraid, whether it is contaminated with hazardous chemicals, health resilience, farm soil moisture retention and better protection for the environment among other factors.