…….hold first Eco and Food Tourism in Lagos
Food tourism has been identified as one area that holds immense economic potential and capable of generating huge foreign exchange for Nigeria if properly developed and explored.
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF ) and Catalyst Integrated Development Agro Company (CIDAC)
emphasized this at the opening of the first of its kind Eco and food tourism at the Lekki Conservation Centre, which the duo jointly organised.
It is a two day event holding from 2nd to 3rd November,2023.
The concept of the ECO and Food Tourism is to use food to drive tourism in the country, while at the same time promoting sound environmental practice and sustainable lifestyle among Nigerians.
The event featured the display of local delicacies from tribes in the country’s six geopolitical zones. Also on display were uncooked tribal foods such as Ijebu garri, Acha kunu, red oil from Akwa Ibom state, Okazi leaves, ofada rice and ugba which is Oil bean, to name but a few.
In his remark, the Director General, NCF, Dr. Joseph Onoja, represented by Mr Ayodele Alamu in the Business Development and Communications Department,said Nigeria is blessed with varieties of local foods and delicacies that can make a huge impact in food tourism.
He said, “We have different food tourism events globally.We have the October First in Germany, and it will interest you to know that over seven million liters of beer is served during the October First. It’s about a week-long program.That’s not the only thing that is served there.They have other things, food, drinks, wine, and they also showcase their culture.
“There’s an event in Chicago.That welcomes about two million visitors.In the year 2022, Philippines made about $5 billion from food tourism.And the projection is that by 2032, Philippines will make about $20 billion U.S.dollars from food tourism.So that shows you the potential in food tourism.On this, can you just think how much Nigeria can possibly make”, said Onoja.
The NCF DG explained further that they used the occasion to pass a vital message to the public that all the food products came from the environment, and so they must embrace nature protection and conservation, for the environment to continue to feed them.
According to him, “We’re here to celebrate the eco and food tourism. It’s an event that showcases the culinary skills and different foods that we have in the country.It’s also a way of using food to drive tourism,while also letting people be aware of the fact that all the food products.are provided by the environment, which of course, you know,is what we are passionate about.
It’s being organized by CIDAC, and we are in partnership with them to promote this event so that it goes viral. It is the first edition and we will be having subsequent editions after this”.
On her part, the founder of CIDAC Mrs. Bridget Olotu who also stressed the need for Nigeria to leverage the growing food tourism industry to fix her economy, said her organisation is working hard to make sure that Nigerian foods are made accessible globally.
Through online store, “Native Food Mart”, she makes indigenous Nigerian foods accessible to those that need them at home and abroad.
Mrs Olotu stated that part of their strategies involve working with rural farmers including women and youths, nationwide and building their capacity to enhance the quantity and quality of agro produce.
Shedding more light on activities of CIDAC, she said, “We are community driven in our activities. We work with communities, women and youths to produce our products.I’m also a farmer. We work with the farmers. We help them to build some capacity for us to get the kind of product we want.Aside from that also, we promote the product we sell. Because we can’t farm everything, so we have farmers across the nation,from the north, the south and the east, that produce for us.
“We help in making sure that their produce meet the standards.We’ve have a very good relationship with them. We have been with most of them for about 10 to 15 years. Before we make all of this official, we’ve just been testing the waters.It’s been a long journey, but today at least our Ofada rice, for example, you can eat it without sand. Then we have farmers from the south-south for oil. Our crayfish is from Oron in Akwa Ibom State.
“We set up the Native Food Mart, which is the online store, where people can see us, both within the nation and outside the nation.By God’s grace, we’ve been able to do that.We’ve been reached by people from the US and Canada, and we’re able to supply them our products.By next week, I think we’ll be supplying our fish from the Badagry group in Lagos state. We have a group in Badagry that produce fish for, aside from those from Niger and from Benue.
We believe in Nigerians building Nigeria, she said.
Olotu opined that based on her interactions with farmers across the country, Nigerians are hardworking and willing to cultivate more, as she called on government to encourage them by providing basic amenities and other incentives in rural communities.
“The area we really want the government is infrastructure.First of all, roads to these farming communities.Then if also the Ministry of Agriculture can come with the equipment that we can either rent or lease and pay over time.The women and youth are ready to work.But it’s not possible to farm an hectare with cutlass and hoe.You can’t do much.So we’re not asking for too much.Just give us those basic infrastructures including power supply in the rural areas”, she added.
Some Nigerians representing the different tribes in the country came around to support the organisers in hosting the historic occasion. Among them was an elder from the north, Musa Garkira who lauded the initiative, while underscoring the numerous benefits of consuming native foods over foreign alternatives.
“We have our own food, cultural, traditional food,which is natural and healthy. We need to promote our local resources, local food,so that our people who produce those food and prepare them and sell will make much money and improve on their economic status”, he said.
“Again, most of the things that we import are not healthy food.They are chemicalized and we are eating things that are injurious. Quite a number of sicknesses that we are having now are alien to Nigerians -Cancer, blood pressure, all those things, we never used to have them.But because we have changed our culture of eating imported food that are preserved with chemicals,we are ingesting a lot of disease. We need to promote our local foods”, he added.
The event provided an opportunity for children to see and have a taste of many native foods, even those from their states of origin.
Innocent Onoh
