Onome Amuge
The global sales for organic products boosted by the rising value of organic food demand, global awareness on the essence of food safety concern and focus on organically produced crops, is likely to reach $150 billion within the next five years.
This assertion was disclosed by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) during the inauguration of the local organising committee for the 2021 Organic Agriculture Business Summit in Abuja.
Speaking on the relevance of organic food production, Olusegun Awolowo, executive director of NEPC, said it is an opportunity to develop the country’s organic food sector with the high demand for organic products both locally and internationally.
Awolowo who was represented by Salami Akinshola, deputy director, Product Development Department, NEPC, explained that many agro products in the country such as ginger, hibiscus, moringa, tiger nut, sesame seed, turmeric, soybeans, with proper certification are easily organic.
According to him, it took over 15 years for global organic product sales to reach $150 billion in 2008 but surpassed the $100 billion mark in 2018.
He further averred that the action plan under the world food summit identifies the importance of organic input technologies, farming techniques and other sustainable methods as organic farming.
The export promotion organisation stated that improvement in the quality of organic produce and products from Nigeria to tackle the rejection of its products would be the focus of the upcoming Organic Agriculture Business Summit slated for September 2021.
The forthcoming forum, it added, is targeted at achieving increased organic production and business in the country which is directed at improving food safety in Nigeria and the integration of organic agriculture into official activities of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
