OVER 120 FARMERS IN NASARAWA SENSITISED ON HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS OF POPs – WATCH VIDEO
The Young Professionals in Policy and Development, YouPaD, with support from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, organised the workshop.
The workshop focused on helping farmers move away from practices that depend on Persistent Organic Pollutants, chemical fertilizers often believed to boost crop yield.
Experts demonstrated that while such chemicals may produce fast results, they degrade the soil, contaminate water sources, and pose long-term health risks to both farmers and consumers.
Over 120 farmers were at the Gurku Sama Community Primary School on how to process and apply animal waste to achieve safely what chemical fertilizer achieves with harmful after effects.
While awaiting promised insulators to aid composting, farmers agreed to develop local methods of processing organic fertilizers as a short-term solution.
YouPad says the project will not end with training. The group plans to push its findings into Nigeria’s national policy conversation, advocating stricter regulation of harmful fertilizers and greater promotion of organic farming.
For many of the farmers, this was their first exposure to the dangers of chemical fertilizers, and they welcomed the shift in knowledge and practice.
As much as the consensus was clear: healthy soil produces healthy food, and protecting the environment begins with the choices made on the farm, push -back from multinational fertilizer producers and government policies could be a major challenge.
