Soludo’s Wife Wants Nigerians To Farm At Their Backyards To Cut Costs Of Living

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, April 24th, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Wife of the Anambra Governor, Dr Nonye Soludo, says embracing home or backyard garden practice will help families cope with the rising cost of living.

Soludo, who is also the founder of Healthy Living Initiative, gave the advice when she received the Anambra State Female Farmers and Businesswomen in Awka.

She said that home garden practices, in the past, provided a primary and regular source of diet and nutrition as well as reduced dependence on commercial food products which were mostly expensive.

According to her, the idea of home or backyard gardens is to improve families’ food supplies and help them make healthy food choices in terms of eating organically grown foods.

“Economic circumstances do not completely determine healthy living practices, including the choice of what we consume to keep the body in good shape.

“We also need to dispel the notion that eating healthy is about eating expensive food products.

“You only need to go to the small farm behind your house to pick up what the body needs to be healthy.

“This is why I am encouraging families to embrace backyard or home gardens and this is in line with the state government’s agricultural agenda.

“Those who live in areas without enough land for subsistence farming purposes can adopt sack farming, which does not cost anything to set up.

“By having such farms around the house, households can have easier and healthier alternatives, cut down their costs of living and boost the green environment.’’

Soludo said that her Healthy Living campaign was to sensitive households on the importance of adopting healthy living as a culture.

“One of our goals is to ensure that families in Anambra prioritised nutritional values of what they eat to improve their family health,’’ she said.

Earlier, Esther Onyekesi, Leader of Anambra State Female Farmers and Businesswomen said women had a major role to play in food production and should be given every necessary support.

Onyekesi, who doubles as Woman Leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state, encouraged women to key into backyard farming to enhance food security. She added that the recent hike in prices of foodstuffs was enough to push everyone into farming. Onyekesi commended the governor’s wife for supporting the women groups in the state.

NAN