Those who should know have condemned chemical intensive agriculture, saying that it was not just harmful to the soil but contributes to climate change and endangers the health of farmers, their product consumers and the environment.

This was the unanimous consensus arrived at during a Two-Day Training for 50 farmers in Benin City, the Edo State capital organized by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), an ecological think tank and advocacy organization, wherein dialogue centred around achieving a resolve that Agroecology will solve the problems of climate change and food crises.

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At the training, which was a project of HOMEF aimed at facilitating dialogued with the farmers on how to improve the quality of their farm lands to ensure a healthy farming system, highlight the consequences of inordinate quest to increase soil fertility and boost yields with the use of chemicals, and emphasize how it poses a threat to their economic future and further sign into a lifetime of health problems.

Speaking, the Programmes Manager of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Joyce Brown pointed out that the essence of the training was to bring to their knowledge, the challenges farmers face and train them on organic farming.

For her, “the use of harmful chemicals and GMOs do not solve the problems we have faced with food scarcity rather it damages the soils and beneficial organisms”. 

Delivering a paper presentation, Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, implored the farmers “not to adopt easy methods that are detrimental to our future health”.

“We are encouraging the use of organic methods. Let us begin to ask some questions. Are we sick because of what we consume? Farmers help to protect nature, environment and our health.”

“We need to consciously grow our foods in manners that are healthy and that do not inflict harm on the soils. To our farmers in Nigeria, we plead that we go back to our roots and say no to GMOs.”

The training, which gave room for farmers to share their various stories since they ventured into the business of farming, had participants trained in making organic fertilizers, optimizing productivity while enlightening them on climate change and ecological degradation.