Part of being a great entrepreneur is having energy and drive and so GGIST will keep you informed on health issues as well as the business opportunities there are in healthy African food and produce. One aspect of the low cash situation in Nigeria is that many people eat more of natural foods sold in local traditional markets than the generally more expensive synthetic foods sold at supermarkets. Many low-income Nigerians are not exposed to manufactured foods containing artificial components. The average Nigerian diet consists of natural meats, fish and sea foods, eggs, carbohydrates from starch tubers such as yams and cassava, vegetable oils, vegetables, and fruits. Some people grow their own vegetables and raise their own livestock. Goats and chicken in the backyard are only pets for some time. They are being watched patiently with a keen desire that they grow fast enough for a feast. Staple foods such as cassava meals provide excellent fibre that keeps the bowels fit. Many Nigerians cook their food from scratch rather than buy ready-made frozen meals. With reference to the manner in which they are produced, natural foods and organic foods are the opposites of junk foods. While junk foods are mainly manufactured or synthesized and have added chemicals, natural and organic foods are generally free of artificial components. Natural foods are foods as they grow in nature without much of the scientific and biotechnological interventions of man; in other words, they are the wild type foods. Organic foods are defined by government regulatory bodies and are classified as organic because of procedures followed to produce them. These procedures are in order to ensure that the foods have minimal human intervention in their production and distribution. The terms natural and organic are almost synonymous because of the absence of artificial modifications of the foods. However, there is more to organic foods than the efforts to make them as natural as possible thereby preserving their organic status. Regulatory agents emphasize the manner of food production too. The process integrates cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that altogether conserves biodiversity and promotes ecological balance. Efforts to support biodiversity along the food chain from beneficial bacteria to beneficial plants and insects and animals before human consumption is important. Efforts are made to eliminate artificial processes such as permanent cattle confinement (cattle must graze at least 120 days in a year), contamination of soils with pesticides and nitrate fertilizers which eventually contaminate drinking water to cause diseases such as cancer, and packaging of foods with fungicides and fumigants (See www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop). If you want to be part of our natural food business network, comment below and we will get back to you.
