Contributions of Organic Farming to Environmental Sustenance and Food Security in West Africa: Policy Recommendations

摘要

The article examines the roles organic farming (OF) plays in environmental sustenance and foodsecurity and identifies policies to enhance the implementation of the roles. Scientific literature on environmentaldamage and stress on food security caused by conventional agriculture and climate change and benefits of OFin adaptation and mitigation of climate change were synthesized and used for the study. Results show that OFhelp in keeping the environment clean by making use of refuse and waste in the environment to producehealthy foods. Composting in organic farming brings nutrients back from the cities to the farmland. Comparedto production of inorganic fertilizer it takes less energy and when managed in an aerobic condition eliminatesmethane production reducing the generation of greenhouse gases and climate change. It therefore reducesenvironmental pollution and promotes the renewed uptake of nutrients from the soil which is what happensunder the traditional farming and fallow systems. It supports biodiversity of indigenous fauna and it is anadvanced form of sustainable agriculture. Organic manure improves the physical properties of soil, thebiological status of soil, soil fertility and consequently crop yield. Organic manures are general soil amendmentsand do not burn or harm plants and have long term positive effects on the soil without damaging ground water.Organic manures are also perfect choices for a garden that has many different plants among other advantages.Some of the policies recommended include training extension workers in OF practices, encouraging farmer-tofarmerexchanges, compiling and disseminating emerging indigenous OF knowledge skills, technologies andcrop varieties, etc.