iNTRODUCING MISS RITA OTU
Rita Robert Otu is the CEO of Beau Haven Farms and a creative agriculturist, activist, researcher, and published author. With an academic background in international political economy and development, she focuses on food security, migration, and democracy. Beau Haven Farms is a profit organisation that creates food awareness on malnutrition. It focuses on education, access to food, budget, tastes, and adequate food intake. The organization’s goal is to involve individuals at an early stage to radically change common misconceptions about food, specifically in urban areas.
A pioneer in food policy research, Ms. Otu brought the issue of nutrition to the forefront by using both economic and medical research to convince development leaders to make biofortified crops an urgent priority in the global food security agenda. For over ten years she has been striving to advance democracy and human rights across Africa. A Nigerian, she has worked on social justice issues as an NGO activist, a democracy and electoral assistance provider, a grant maker, a political writer, and translated poet. Rita holds an MSC in International Development from Manchester University. She also holds a BSC in Agricultural Economics from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. As a creative activist, she uses her power of words and imagery to move people from awareness to end hunger in Africa. These messages are disseminated across the world to a diverse audience through her shows and performances at international festivals. In 2018, she was awarded a certificate from Study UK British Council for her entrepreneurial skills in Nigeria to end hunger.
Rita Robert Otu
CEO Beau Haven Farms
Rita Robert Otu studied masters in International Development (Economics and Management of Rural Development) at the Global Development Institute. She returned to Nigeria in 2009 and was inspired to start the Peas Food project, providing education and teaching green skills to young women.
Rita says investing in women’s farming was always a priority for her. “With a family history in farming and having grown up watching and follow my parents on the farm, perhaps it’s no surprise I’ve ended up where I have. I was a facilitator for Girls Power Initiative and I knew the challenges faced by women in Nigeria.”