Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Nigeria among least countries practising organic agriculture: EOA

Global organic product sales might move from $100 billion to $150 billion within the next five years.

• May 21, 2021

Olugbenga Ade-Oluwa, the National Coordinator of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in Nigeria, says the country is among the least countries practising organic agriculture in Africa.

Mr Ade-Oluwa said this during the 2021 annual National Organic Agriculture Business Summit (NOABS) Local Organising Committee’s inauguration on Thursday in Abuja.

He said one of the essences of the summit is to scale up Nigeria’s level of participation in organic farming and improve its development.

“The summit will create awareness on the benefits of organic farming and improve on the marketing of the product within and outside Nigeria. It is also one of the ways of addressing the challenges of organic agriculture development in the country,” he said.

The coordinator emphasised the need for capacity building of practitioners in the organic agriculture sector to contribute to food security, income generation, employment, and systems resilience, among other benefits.

The summit, he said, would mainstream organic agriculture into regular activities of relevant ministries, departments, and agencies.

The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Chairman of the LOC, Olusegun Awolowo, added that global organic product sales might move from $100 billion to $150 billion within the next five years.

Mr Awolowo, represented by Salami Akinshola, the Deputy Director, Product Development Department, said, “It is an opportunity to develop Nigeria’s organic food sector with the high demand for organic product both locally and internationally.”

According to him, many Nigerian agro-products such as ginger, hibiscus, moringa, tiger-nuts, sesame seed, turmeric, and soybeans can be grown organically.

He explained that it took over 15 years for global organic product sales to reach $50 billion in 2008, adding that it surpassed the $100 billion mark in 2018.

“With COVID-19 changing the way we shop and eat, the next leap to $150 billion could be within the next five years,” Mr Awolowo pointed out.

He mentioned that the value of organic food demand had risen significantly due to global awareness on the essence of food safety concern and focus on organically produced crops.

The Organic Agriculture Business Summit, scheduled for September, will focus on improving the quality of organic produce from Nigeria.

It will also address the incidence of Nigerian produce being rejected in the world market.

(NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Hon. Adeyemi Adaramodu

Heading 2

Senate won’t interfere in PFIPC controversy: Senator Adaramodu

Mr Adaramodu said the upper chamber had yet to receive any petition from any of the parties or concerned Nigerians to elicit its intervention.

Renaissance Africa

Economy

Renaissance announces discovery of large oil deposits off Nigeria’s coast

Mr Attah said preliminary evaluation showed that the well encountered about 1,000 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing column across seven reservoirs

Nasarawa South senatorial district, Ogoshi Onawo

Politics

Nasarawa senator Ogoshi Onawo dumps ADC for APM 

Mr Onawo said his resignation from the ADC took effect from June 15, after careful reflection and extensive consultations.

Speaker Oludaisi Elemide

Health

Ogun assembly passes safe pregnancy termination bill for second reading

Mr Elemide said the legislation was intended to reduce preventable maternal deaths while promoting safe motherhood and reproductive health rights.

Trading at the stock market

Economy

Investors gain N1.86 trillion as stock market extends rally 

Market capitalisation rose by 1.24 per cent, or N1.864 trillion, to close at N152.135 trillion, up from N150.271 trillion.

Federal High Court Abuja

Abuja

Court adjourns trial of six alleged coup suspects until July 20

The case could not proceed after repeated disputes over the interpretation of the sixth defendant’s testimony.