Akinsola Family Garden

Slow Food in Nigeria

Nigeria—Africa’s most populous country, with 186 million inhabitants and 36 federated states—has undergone rapid industrialization and urbanization, financed by the exploitation of energy resources (oil and natural gas) and mining. These industries have caused widespread environmental degradation and social conflicts, like the protests of the Niger Delta communities forced to suffer the devastating consequences of pollution and human-rights violations. After these were publicized by writer Ken Saro Wiwa, he was murdered together with eight other activists in 1995. Additionally, until the 1960s and ‘70s, all Nigerian schools taught agriculture and food growing, but the neocolonization of the market and the importation from abroad of up to 80% of foods (including rice, chicken, fish, etc.) have led to the loss of any kind of food-growing culture among young people. In 2011, a young Nigerian member of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) found out about the Slow Food movement and decided to start promoting local foods and saving those at risk of extinction by reintroducing agroecological food gardens into schools through the gardens project, raising awareness among government authorities and creating a network of conscious and supportive producers and consumers. The first steps were taken with the local government in Egbeda in 2013, which supported the reintroduction of agricultural subjects in 23 schools. This was then replicated in another nine states. The objective is to educate people about clean agriculture and the consumption of local food. Encouraging farmers to produce locally is not enough: Many small-scale farmers use traditional methods, but need more information about the negative effects of synthetic chemical fertilizers. Through the food gardens, a mapping of Ark products has been carried out, seed banks have been set up and a network of young people has been created who are trying to bring about change including through the organization of convivial events. In the last few years, the Slow Food network in Nigeria has been working to strengthen partnerships with local associations to tackle together the problem of the big economic and political interests in industrial agriculture, reflected in the spread of monocultures for export (Nigeria is the world’s third biggest producer of palm oil), the opening up to GMOs in 2011 with an experimental project on modified manioc and a 2016 bill that proposed taking lands away from small-scale Fulani farmers in order to use them for grazing and ranching.