Rep Atu Urges Journalists, Content Creators to Promote Safe Agriculture, Food Preservation

The member representing Enugu North/Enugu South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Chimaobi Atu, has urged journalists and content creators to use their platforms to promote agriculture and raise awareness about the dangers of using harmful chemicals to preserve food.

Atu made the call during the “Digital Skills for Agricultural Development 2026” seminar organised as part of his constituency project on the supply of basic modern productive tools for agricultural extension activities to agricultural extension workers in the constituency.

The programme, held in Enugu, focused on using digital communication and the media to encourage youths to embrace agriculture, promote food security and discourage the use of harmful substances in food production and preservation.

Atu said agriculture should no longer be viewed merely as farming, stressing that it encompasses the entire value chain, including processing, preservation, marketing and the use of technology to create awareness.

According to him, the seminar was also aimed at addressing practices that expose Nigerians to avoidable health risks through the consumption of food preserved with harmful chemicals.

“We are the ones to make this world a better place. The change begins with each and every one of us,” Atu said.

He urged journalists and online content creators to dedicate their platforms to educating the public on safe agricultural practices and the dangers associated with the use of unapproved chemicals in preserving food.

“We want to urge the journalists and content creators to use their channels to create awareness about the need for increased agriculture and to discourage the use of harmful chemicals to preserve food products,” he said.

The lawmaker also called on young Nigerians to take agriculture seriously, noting that the sector offers opportunities across its value chain.

He commended the Enugu State Government for its investment in agriculture and urged youths to take advantage of the opportunities and enabling environment provided by the state.

Atu also acknowledged the agricultural initiatives of the President Bola Tinubu administration, saying federal incentives and state-level support could help stimulate greater participation in the sector.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Chidi Ezinwa, a lecturer at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), said the training was expected to stimulate greater agricultural reporting in both mainstream and social media.

He urged participants to make agriculture more attractive to young people through consistent and constructive reporting.

“The media should create conversations around agriculture and make it more attractive. The media should change the narrative. Media should promote agriculture,” Ezinwa said.

The Head of Department of Mass Communication, ESUT, Dr. Maxwell Ngene, stressed the importance of food security to the survival of society, urging journalists to expose practices capable of endangering public health.

Also speaking, Dr. Samson Alugwu of the Department of Food and Nutrition, ESUT, warned about the dangers associated with unsafe practices in the agricultural value chain.

He distinguished between primary and secondary agriculture, noting that harmful substances used during processing and preservation could accumulate in the human body and cause health problems over time.

Participants said the training should stimulate agenda-setting and stronger media conversations around agriculture and food safety, while also questioning the role of regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Participants said they expected the programme to equip them with greater knowledge of agriculture and enable them to report the sector more effectively.

The Enugu State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Obinna Ogbuka, said the media had a social responsibility to disseminate information capable of protecting society.

“The social responsibility of passing the message across is the traditional role of the media and we will do it better henceforth, as we have always done,” Ogbuka said.

An online media publisher, Clinton Umeh, said the training would help journalists identify and expose harmful practices that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“Our farmers are killing us in instalments and the training will help us open our eyes, because we can report from a blind spot,” Umeh said, citing the use of substances such as bleach and other chemicals in unsafe food practices.

He said the knowledge gained from the programme would enable journalists to better investigate and report practices that pose risks to consumers.