A Senior Lecturer and Professor of Biochemistry, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH) Okitipupa,, Professor Foluso Adetuyi, has explained that government can only enhance food security in the country, if it adopt the habit of storage and processing of food apparently to curtail posthavest losses.
The University don explained that the planned food security policy of President Bola Tinubu-led government can only be achieved and cuts across the various sectors of the country, if storage and processing of foods are encouraged at every stratum of governance and curtail posthavest losses.
Adetuyi, spoke in Okitipupa on Thursday, while delivering the 8th inaugural lecture of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, Ondo State.
Speaking on a lecture entitled: “Managing our Future: Dexterity of a Biochemist in Food Security and Health” the Idanre-borned Biochemist argued that about one-third of the globally produced food for human consumption are wasted every year, especially during posthavest, cultivation, distribution, retail and consumption among others.
He described food security as a production of food that will adequately go round at all times to meet increasing consumption demand and mitigate fluctuation in output and prices.
Lamenting over what he called food wastage and posthavest loss in the country, the development which he attributed to lack storage facilities and food processing by the the government and farmers over the years.
The Senior Lecturer who specialised on food and posthavest biochemistry however suggested that the proposed food security policy by the Federal Government should cover such as storage and processing of foods and encouraged all levels of governments to curtail posthavest loss than cultivation and production of more foods.
He recommended that Nigerian should have access to good financial services that will enable them to adopt new technologies for storage and processing of foods and increase their resilience to economic shock.
He equally recommended the needs for research-extension linkage system to be strengthened by the government and its agencies, so that storage and processing innovations generated from the institutions and research institutes are delivered to farmers.
Other suggestions mentioned by him are government at all levels should pay more attention on the investment in food science and related courses, saying that the move will give room for varieties of food, public awareness through print media and electronic on the importance of curtailing posthavest loss of foods and storage of excess harvest among others.
On how to encourage more food security, the Senior Lecturer suggested the for the government to encourage more Agricultural Research Centres such as Nigeria Stored Product Research Institute (NSPRI) and other research institutes across the country.
Speaking further on the topic, the University don explained that the lecture delved into posthavest storage and processing of grains, method of posthavest preservation and storage of fruits and vegetables and the importance of storage.
He explained that the lecture also examine the importance of storage and processing of food and discovered that stored and processed foods especially fruits and vegetables has the same contents of nutrients and antioxidant and better than the freshly harvested fruits.
Early in his address at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Temi Ologunorisa, disclosed that the lecture is one of his activities geared towards elevating the institution to an international standard.
The University helmsman noted that the inaugural lecture is the 7th in series since he assumed the leadership of the University few years ago, he reiterated his readiness to continue in introducing more innovations to the University in line with the vision of the present administration in Ondo State.
Speaking on the topic of the lecture, the Vice Chancellor described it as apt, lamented that about 40 percent of food produced in the country are wasted, he stress the needs for the Federal Government pay more attention on the good storage, saying that the problem would further put an end to the posthavest losses.
The event held at the University auditorium within the main campus, Igbokoda road, Okitipupa was attended by lecturers of the institution, friends and family of the lecturer as well as principal officer of the institution among others.