‘Organic farming is eco-friendly, boosts farm yields’

Rhino farms which was established four years ago, was essentially at the Abuja fair to promote organic food and by extension organic agriculture, a trend that is fast catching up with developing societies like ours.The farms is an indigenous integrated network initiated by Nasir Ja’afar Dauda who is the chairman/ chief executive officer and Tasiu […]

Rhino farms which was established four years ago, was essentially at the Abuja fair to promote organic food and by extension organic agriculture, a trend that is fast catching up with developing societies like ours.
The farms is an indigenous integrated network initiated by Nasir Ja’afar Dauda who is the chairman/ chief executive officer and Tasiu Muhammad Ringim, a director: two young Nigerians who are giving momentum to the country’s  quest for sufficiency in food production.
They have between 200 to 250 hectares of land in Nasarawa State that they are utilizing for organic farming. They are mainly into the production of organic rice at Yelwan Bassa, melon, corn at Kokona, Unguwan Kadai and Ungwan Habu, pepper and moringa at Gidan Zakara among others all in the state.
The whole idea of organic farming could be traced to some great minds. Such writers in the United States and Great Britain as Sir Albert Howard, Rudolf Steiner, Lady Eve Balfour and J.I. Rodale were instrumental to the idea. They publish influential works introducing the basic idea of organics. They posited that the health of plants, soil, livestock, and people are interrelated. They advocate for an approach to farming based on working with natural systems rather than trying to control them.
Organic farming emphasises  originality. By these, organic farmers imply the non-application of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides or fungicides. They resort instead to the use of mainly cow and chicken dung and droppings as well as decomposed wild plants left to mix with soil.
On the contrary, Professor Ishaku Amapu a soil fertility expert in the Institute of Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said “the problem of manures is that the concentration of nutrients is low. For example the farm yard manure research conducted in ABU Zaria has shown that if you want to cultivate a crop of maize of one hectare, you need about five tones of such fertilizer – that is 50 bags of 100 kilogrammes –  but you need just eight bags of mineral fertilizer in such area.
“This is why when people keep talking about organic farming, personally I feel that it is lack of proper knowledge or they are just trying to deceive us,” professor Amapu said.  
Similarly, Nasir notes that: “There are lots of health related problems that are as a result of nutrition. The doctors have to start from the kitchen not from their offices. If the kitchen is messed up or our food filled with chemicals so also will our health.
“I think people in this part of the world prefer face value rather than the real benefits that abound with the products we purchase. If you stay with the beauty only you would think organic foods are not palatable. The grains we have are not genetically modified so they may not appear as polished or as long as the Basmati rice for instance but health wise it is better than the foreign rice.”
Nigeria is among the six countries in which the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative is being piloted in Africa. EOA initiative is being supported by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) through the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU).
This has culminated into formation of Nigerian Organic Agriculture Network (NOAN) which led to the establishment of the Ibadan Organic Farmers Market. The market operates every Saturday serving organic farmer groups in Oyo and Osun states and strategically targets up to 10 per cent of the estimated 7.5 million residents of Ibadan. The establishment of the market is expected to stimulate development of similar organic market outlets in Nigeria.
Rhino farms who have been in active organic farming and are currently producing between 100-120 tons of rice per season, 70-80 tons of corn, 3-4 tones of melon while for red chilly they produce barely one ton and they boast of one of the largest  moringa farms in Nasarawa State covering about 13 hectares because of the potentiality of the plants and the increasing awareness world-wide for its value.
With 200 hectares of land and using virtually everything manual, they engage between 70 to 100 persons as skilled and unskilled workers daily preparing the land and processing the produce.
One major attraction of the product is the plastic packaging which is a brain-child of the proprietors’ participation in food exhibition around the world. “It affords us the opportunity to interact with people in all aspects of agro-business so we were able to partner with some of them on packaging and other areas that can improve what we do,” Nasir said.
But generally what is the awareness level in Nigeria to sustaining this kind of farming? Tasiu said: “We have been amazed by the amount of people who come to us every day wanting to know more about what we do. At the beginning it was not encouraging but along the line the awareness has improved tremendously.
Worldwide each time the word ‘organic’ is used, people simply imply that because we propagate superior quality, the price is also higher than inorganic food. Those foreign rice for instance which are described as organic go for about N900 to N1000 per kilogramme.
When we came into the market, we discovered that the prices were exorbitant and the originality was under caution – whether they are actually organic or not. They are careful to mention on there packages that they are traditionally grown. They did not put their claim as organic but we knew what we are going into and we made our claim as such. We did not outsource any of our processes so our 5 kilogrammes is sold for N1800. We sell our 5 kilogramme corn flour for N1200 which makes them very affordable.”
The practice of organic farming is not without its challenges for White Rhino Farms as it operates with the daily challenge of lack of power, feeder roads, security and enabling environment that would allow them to function peacefully. The old, locally constructed bridges through some of the farms have restricted the use of tractors to enhance productivity.
The distance of some of these farms can be better imagined. Nasir told Daily Trust that: “You will be surprised if I tell you that some of the villages where our farms are were witnessing the presence of a tractor for the first time in their history.”
Organic farming is increasingly becoming attractive because it does more than just provide delicious food to eat, it is also eco-friendly. It is a responsible form of agriculture that seeks to preserve the health of farmlands.
Nasir was philosophical about organic farm produce. He said: “It is either you eat healthy food and remain alive or consume junk and become a regular visitor to the medical doctor.”