‘People can build healthy lifestyle around farming’

Apart from being a vegetable farmer, you are also into agro creative lifestyle initiative. What is it all about?We call ourselves agro creative lifestyle company because we find creative ways to mould a very healthy lifestyle for people to let them know that they can live a healthy, better life even around farming.We produce a […]

Apart from being a vegetable farmer, you are also into agro creative lifestyle initiative. What is it all about?
We call ourselves agro creative lifestyle company because we find creative ways to mould a very healthy lifestyle for people to let them know that they can live a healthy, better life even around farming.
We produce a lot of vegetables in this country but value addition is a problem. Are you giving the farmers information about value addition to vegetables or you are looking at food consumers on how to eat healthy food?
Well, we want to talk to the farmers and consumers as well because both of them need to be informed. You see, the oil now is having its problems, so we are going back to agriculture, but now going back to do what? Are we just going to farm? No, in this new age there are different things we can do to add value on different levels. So we are talking to consumers, entrepreneurs, young people to use their brains because farming is something you can be creative about in the way you package, in the way you deliver.
There are so many things you can do to add value and bring employment to people. So we want people to think in that line not just to look at farming for the people in the village. It is something that we in the city can contribute a lot to that is why we are educated. So we need to find the way to use our education to improve the quality of farming and how we consume what we produce.
You are about to host what is called the bloom organic family fair, what is it all about?
It is a very deep concept. Basically, we know what fair is. This is agro-based. The origin of it is agric-farming, because that’s what we do. We want to show people that even farming can be the cause for positive interactions. We want to have different meals made up of vegetables; we want people around to get some value; people to talk about food and how to make your lifestyle choices those are positive; how to do the business that is positive. So we want to bring everything to one place so that we can influence the next generation to think in that direction of how to add value, how to be green, and how to be healthy. Also to show that farming is a very good way to have all these things.
What sort of information are you going to give to people as a modern farmer through this upcoming event?
 When I said bloom organic family fair, the organic is a natural process – it is a process that requires natural application. It is not forced. I am also reaching out to organic entrepreneurs – people that build their businesses from the scratch and go through natural process of growing a business because of the passion they have, they go through the challenges because they want to bring value to the consumers. We want people to come and share their story about passion, hard work, perseverance, they will be in that environment and at the same time we want to bring people who are lifestyle coaches that will talk about how to design and grow a value-based business.
We are also bringing lifestyle coaches who will tell you that the choices you make in your life determine your health and everything about you. We believe awareness is the most important thing. The more people know, the more they will desire for themselves.
What do you mean by organic entrepreneurs?
Organic is a concept that is known to many people depending on how you understand it. Like I said, organic is when something happens naturally. In agriculture when you say natural, it means that it is not enhanced, but develops naturally. So in this new age of technology, you can produce food that normally takes three months in one month. We have these GMOs that grow very fast and very big but they are not really fine because of the speeding process, some of the nutrients that you need are not developed properly. Inorganic is basically using short cut to achieve your goal. But at the same time, it’s also about keeping natural processes.
Many youth in Nigeria think one cannot become a millionaire from agriculture in Nigeria. Do you think that is changing now?
First of all education and understanding are the most important things, when you understand something, your choices will be a bit different. I will advise such youth to look at farming – that is why we established Agro Creative Life Style business because we have to create, we have to innovate and we have to find ways to make these things appeal to the new generation.
I will also tell them to change the perception of going to work in NNPC or Central Bank as the only way to make money, but relax and open their minds and be creative in thinking, be natural in your thinking. You can add value to anything, it depends on the kind of value you put around it, you will find people that want that value. This is why we are talking about choices and value about lifestyle because we know people would not be able to make right choices in their lives that will benefit them, so we tell them how it will benefit them, that way they can now want our products. So educate them about value and everything fall into place.