Adesina: Nigeria Recorded Rise in Food Production

Nigeria will continue to record a rise in food output as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, yesterday disclosed that the country recorded a growth in the food production last year to the tune of eight million metric tonnes over 2012 figures.

The figure, according to him, “represents over 70 per cent growth of the target set for 2015 by government”. He made the statement while declaring open the Third NIAS-ASAN joint annual meeting held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

He spoke at the event where new members of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) were inducted.

Adesina described it as significant because “it marks yet another major milestone in our drive to modernise agriculture and ensure that

our farmers who should be the real beneficiaries of government policies are well targeted by government programmes.

“I admit that most of the achievements of government in agriculture within the last one year were supported by standards along international benchmarks for food safety,” the minister added.

He commended the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science and the Animal Science Association for driving the issue of livestock value addition with its standards and operating procedures for the livestock sector.

In his address, the president of the institute, Placid Njoku, charged the institute under the new council taking over from him to among other things move to connect Departments of Animal Science in Nigerian universities with selected strong departments in universities in advanced nations.

The in-coming council was also asked to strengthen the institute’s Post Graduate College of Animal Science and Centres of Excellence as well as engage in regular fine-tuning of industry standards of operation, Animal Feed Standards and lay emphasis on risk analysis in the livestock and feed industry.

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Isaac Folorunso Adewole, in his goodwill message, expressed worries over the dwindling interest of the younger ones in the study of agriculture, noting that such trend would hamper food production in the nearest future.

He equally charged the new inductees to be conscious of the responsibilities their chosen profession had placed on their shoulders and work assiduously to ensure food security for the country, noting that feeding a country of 170 million people should be a serious concern to all. 

Thisday