Eat what you farm for improved health – Expert
By Ebere Agozie
Dr Zainab Imam, Consultant Adult and Perinatal Psychiatrist and Division Chief of Women’s Mental Health at Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar has urged Nigerians to farm what they eat for improved health benefit.
Imam, who is also the CEO of JAMS Organic Farms and Kitchens, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
She urged Nigerians to consider the health of their family members by farming what they eat, even if it means having a small backyard farm.
She added that studies have shown that exposure to various environmental pollutants, such as pesticides, is associated with increasing prevalence of cases of cancer and solid tumours.
She stressed that farming what you eat is a win-win situation as it would minimise the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, which can contaminate human health and the environment.
“Well, the reason I chose farming is that farming is something I’ve always enjoyed doing. Anywhere I’ve lived, anybody that knows me would always associate Zainab with farming.
“My house, even in Qatar, I have my backyard garden where I plant everything. When I was here in Nigeria, before I left the country, I used to raise chickens in my house here in Abuja.
“I have nothing less than 1000 heads of corn and other vegetables around. So it’s something I feel very passionate about. I like to eat clean food.’’
She said that most chemicals used by farmers are killing Nigerians daily, and slowly.
Imam said that even when people try to use herbs to cure sicknesses they still run into trouble because those herbs are also contaminated.
“I’m diabetic, so I’m also passionate about what I put in my mouth and make sure that whatever I’m eating will not add to my chronic illness.
“The other thing is that when I’m on the farm, it gives me room to move and exercise.
“So my thought is that if I could do this as part of my retirement, it will exercise into my day, and also hopefully I’ll be able to teach people about sustainable and organic farming.”
She said that her plan after retirement is to be able to teach people how to be successful in sustainable organic agriculture practices.
“The way our farm works, it’s an integrated farm. We have livestock, we have the large animals, and we’re also hoping to have the small animals.
“Currently, we have a few chickens, and we only deal with local chickens. We also have sheep and cows, and we are in the process of starting our fish ponds so that we create additional protein.
“We also hope that when the farm is standard we would be able to train other people.
“I hope that people can come and visit the farm and see what we’re doing, and be able to adopt such sustainable practices in their own farms as well,” she said. (NAN)
Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz
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