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Agroecology Panacea To Climate Change, Food Crisis – Experts

Published

4 years ago

November 27, 2021

Agroecology has been identified as solution to climate change, food crises and other elements threatening farming and its produce in the country.

This was made known in a two-day training organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) for over 50 farmers in Edo State with a view to exposing them on how to improve quality of their farm lands and have a healthy farming system.

INFO DAILY reports that the training also addressed the issue of climate change, land
degradation and conservation of our ecological systems.

In the training organised recently in Benin, farmers were informed that ecological farming alternatives were money saving, simple to implement and simple to share generated knowledge.

Speaking at the training, Programmes Manager, HOMEF, Joyce Brown, stated that essence of the training was to highlight the challenges farmers face and to train them on how to produce and use organic farming
inputs.

According to her, chemical intensive agriculture is not only harmful to the soil, but
contributes to climate change and endangers the health of farmers and the environment.

She noted that, on the quest to increase soil fertility and boost yields with the use of chemicals, farmers unknowingly endanger their economic future and further sign into a lifetime of health problems.

“Frequent exposure to chemical pesticides can cause cancer and other neurological, immunologic, respiratory and reproductive diseases.

“The use of harmful chemicals and Genetic Modified Organism (GMOs) do not solve the problems we have faced with food scarcity, rather it damages the soils and beneficial organisms.’ Natural fertilizers do not pose any harm to the soil, rather they nourish the soil,” she noted.

On his part, Deputy Director of an NGO (Women Environmental Programme), John Baaki, noted, “agriculture production has suffered intensive use of chemicals which is poisoning the environment,
contaminating the air and water bodies as well as the health of
farmers.’’

He continues, ‘’By teaching farmers to go organic, we are addressing the problem of chemical pollution in Nigeria’s agricultural
sector.’’

In her presentation, Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Deputy Director, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, urged farmers not be excited when they receive unknown seeds or while using certain fertilizers which have proven to be harmful.

“We are encouraging the use of organic methods. Let us begin to ask some questions. Are we sick because of what we consume? Farmers help to protect nature, environment and our health. We need to consciously grow our foods in manners that are healthy and that do not inflict harm on the soils. To our farmers in Nigeria, we plead that we go back to our roots and say no to GMOs,” she stated.

Some farmers during the training, shared stories of having short-term and chronic sicknesses
arising from the use of chemicals on their farmlands.

Frederick Ekrebe-Thomas, a cocoa farmer shared his experience from both methods, saying, “The cassavas in my farm went bad after spraying with
pesticides and herbicides.

“When I tried it on separate farms, I noticed that the one with chemical all went bad but the one I used natural methods produced greatly. I have seen it from experience that a farm that is cultivated with organic inputs produces more than those using chemicals. We farmers do not always admit that chemicals are harmful to
us.

“I have been trained in the past on the harmful use of chemicals and
I appreciate this training because it has further opened my eyes and
added to my knowledge.”

Angela Victor, a rice farmer who expressed her excitement over the
training said, “I have been into local rice farming. The government once gave us rice which they call “sparrow 44” with fertilizers to make it grow.

“At the end instead of making profit, I lost much. At the next planting
season I decided to go back to my old rice seeds and method of farming before now. I have learned a lot from this training and I will put the knowledge to use.”

Farmers in training session

Also sharing his testimony, James Osarobo-sehende, who claimed to have always been into natural methods of production, stated that he will continue to remain in that method of farming.

“I used chicken dropping when I planted pumpkins. The growth
rate was impressive. I use machine to clear weeds not the chemical to
clear like the others and I have seen the difference in our farm lands.”

The farmers urged government to support farmers by providing indigenous seeds rather than contaminating GMOs and chemicals that would destroy
their soils and harm their economies.

They also asked for improvement of rural infrastructure which will enable their products get to final
consumers and also improve their farm gate prices.

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UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

2 days ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

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Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

2 days ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

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Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

2 days ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP