Dr Olugbenga AdeOluwa, a senior Lecturer at the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, on Wednesday, urged farmers
to practice organic agriculture to make more money.
He made the call at a seminar on Organic Agriculture, organised by Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter in Ibadan.
AdeOluwa, also the practitioners’ National Vice President, spoke on the topic “Organic Agriculture Business: A tool for National Development.”
He defined Organic Agriculture as a holistic production management system which enhances agro-ecosystem health, utilising both traditional and scientific knowledge.
According to him, organic agriculture relies on ecosystem management rather than external agricultural inputs.
He added that organic system provided a straight way opportunity that could address the challenges of modern agriculture.
He emphasised that the system was different from natural farming, saying it involved principles based on health, ecology, fairness and care.
He noted that “in organic agriculture, farmers don’t cheat because they have associations, including youths and committees that set prizes of products.
“In this type of agriculture, everything is taken care of, including the crops/plants, because when they are well taken care of, they can serve the purpose of business.”
He pointed out that job opportunities lied in organic agriculture, which included crop production, animal production, fisheries, wildlife handling.
He maintained that organic agriculture was synonymous to development in global agribusiness, evolved as fastest agricultural sector at the global level.
Earlier, Dr Aderonke Sansi, the Chairperson of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter, thanked stakeholders for making it to the programme in spite of the short notice.
She urged them to put all they would learn into practice and make most use of the opportunities in organic agriculture.
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