HOMEF trains 50 farmers on organic fertiliser, pesticides production

A non-governmental organisation, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), on Tuesday, trained no fewer than 50 farmers on how to locally produce organic manure and pesticides with a view to boosting food security and sufficiency.

Programme Manager of HOMEF, Joyce Brown, while addressing the farmers during a two-day farmers’ dialogue and training tagged, ‘Agro-ecology: The Future of Farming,’ urged the government at all levels and farmers to embrace natural solutions in farm practice to reduce loss and boost food security and sufficiency.

She noted that the training was aimed at improving farmers’ knowledge on how to produce foods that are healthy and nutritious for a safe and healthy nation devoid of food-borne diseases.

“What we are doing today is to teach farmers how to produce organic fertiliser, pesticides and manure for their farms. This is opposed to the use of chemicals. By chemicals, we mean the use of inorganic herbicides and pesticides.

“Organic pesticides and herbicides are made from natural products, particularly crops that can be gotten from our local farms. Farmers are not going to spend lot of money to purchase these chemicals when it is something they can produce from their farms. And importantly, these do not pose any harm to the environment and the soil, rather they nourish the soil.’’

Some farmers at the training expressed satisfaction with the HOMEF for the knowledge gained, particularly on ways to manage pests and diseases, as well as new ideas to contain flooding, including other problems posed by climate change.

A farmer, Osaro Obasuyi, said due to climate change, “we now engage in mixed farming,” just as another identified deforestation as one of the challenges responsible for climate change.