Do Nigerians understand what organic food really is?

Posted by Chidinma on Tuesday March 3, 2015 at 11:49:7:

Do Nigerians really know the difference between an organic or inorganic food? Well, most of the old generation Nigerians have been used to eating organic foods from crops they've grown themselves as a result of subsistence farming but nowadays, with a growing number of people moving to cities, we tend to care less about what type of food products we are actually eating and where they come from. From my research, I've come to know that organic foods are the best and inorganic foods is only recommended to make up for food scarcity.

Organic foods are foods which are cultivated by organic farming and organic farming involves the use of natural methods which are safe for the environment. Materials used for organic farming are free from synthetic materials such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides while for inorganic foods, most of the materials used for its cultivation are made with synthetic materials.

Some Benefits Of Organic foods:

1. They Contains more Anti-oxidants: most health experts claim that foods produced in an organic way has more anti oxidants than inorganic food; and anti oxidants are chemical nutrients that helps the body inhibit the growth of cancerous cells.

2. They Taste Better: most people claim that organic foods taste better than inorganic ones; though there is yet to be a strong proof to confirm this statement.

3. Environmental Friendly: organic foods are produced with materials that are environmental friendly.

Though the topic of organic food is not clearly discussed in Nigeria, since there is yet to be an awareness of organic foods and its benefits in the country, but Farmers in Nigeria practice more of organic farming because most of the materials for cultivation are environmental friendly; for instance, instead of using chemical fertilizers on their farms, they prefer to turn animal dung and faeces into manure. I will actually come to the conclusion that Nigerians actually do more organic farming than inorganic farming even though many who consume such food products tend to be ignorant about it.

However, we need to be aware that there is a growing number of inorganic food products that are being introduced into our food markets and this may be imported or produced locally. It is not just food crops like yams or beans but also livestock like cattle and poultry. Would you prefer eating a locally bred chicken or inorganic chicken? Well, you should know that most of those frozen chicken parts are inorganic.