Rose Ogbonna is a smallholder woman farmer from Okpoitumo community, Abakaliki North LGA, Ebonyi State, and she is happy to share her story of a bountiful harvest of rice that she planted with organic manure. This story ensued after Participatory Development Alternatives (PDA) with support from ActionAid, trained smallholder women farmers from Okpuitumo community, and other communities in Ebonyi State on compost making, which will serve as an alternative to inorganic fertilizer.
Okpoitumo is an agrarian community in Abakaliki LGA of Ebonyi State that is basically known for rice farming. Thus, they are one of the major food hubs of Ebonyi State due to massive rice produced by the community. Over the years though, there has been decline in rice yields. This drop can be attributed to the extensive use of inorganic manure (fertilizers) by farmers in the community, which leads to the death of soil micro-organisms, thus reducing the fertility of their soil.
Participatory Development Alternatives (PDA), with support from ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), identified the use of inorganic manure (fertilizers) as a challenge to agriculture in Okpoitumo community and other communities in Ebonyi State. Sequel to this, PDA embark on a desk review of agricultural policies and practices in the State, as well as campaigns and training of smallholder farmers and other stakeholders on the need for the State to adopt the practice of climate resilience sustainable agriculture (CRSA) at the State, LGA and community levels.
Rose Ogbonna, a smallholder farmer from Okpoitumo community, tells her success story; “I am a farmer in Okpoitumo community. I have a very big farm. Before, I plant my rice with fertilizer and I harvest like 15 to 16 bags of rice. But as time went on, my harvest started reducing to 10 to 12 bags. I didn’t know the actual cause of the reduction. So, I applied more fertilizer hoping to have more yield. But the yield didn’t increase. In 2018/2019, PDA came and taught us the harmful impact of using inorganic fertilizers, and why it is good for us to use organic manure in our farms. PDA also taught us how to make compost manure. Last year (2019), I tried it. I used only organic manure to plant my rice, and the yield increased to 14 bags. I am so happy and very grateful to PDA and ActionAid. This year (2020), I still planted my rice with only organic manure. I hope to have more yields”.
The smallholder women farmers were taught steps for making indirect/in-ground organic fertilizer which are as follow:
Therefore, it is absolutely imperative for states in Nigeria to adopt the practice of Climate Resilience Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA) to ensure food security in the nation and the world at large.
(Next edition of PDA newsletter will talk more on CRSA)