In its bid to entrench post harvest management of agricultural products in Nigeria, the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) has taken the campaign to schools, to create awareness among the students.

Part of the move was NSPRI’s hosting of a Postharvest Loss Reduction Summer Class and Capacity Building on Tomato Value Addition for Lagos Teachers, held between September 2 and 3, 20026 in Lagos.

According to the institute, the two initiatives were aimed at exposing students and teachers alike to practical knowledge and capacity building, while also preparing them for careers in agriculture.

The Lagos Zonal Coordinator of NSPRI, Dr Shuaeeb Oyewole, said the urgent need to intensify efforts in reducing losses in post harvest losses in Nigeria, necessitated the introduction of an outreach programme tagged: “Catch Them Young Initiative,” aimed at creating awareness at a tender age among Nigerian students.

According to Dr Oyewole, this initiative “will not only inform them of the benefits individual citizens and Nigeria stand to gain in terms of food security, but could also awaken the talents in them by choosing a career out of this and become job creators and employers of labour.”

According to the organisers, the Postharvest Loss Reduction Summer Class serves as a follow-up to the career talk initiative programme NSPRI is currently undertaking in secondary schools in Lagos State.

This edition had two batches, which comprised 60 students across secondary and tertiary institutions.

The programme ran from August 17 to September 3, with each batch gaining hands-on knowledge in fruit snack production from pawpaw and pineapple, fish snacks from catfish, various fruit juices from pineapple, orange, watermelon, beetroot and coconut, and soya milk and spiced cheese from soybean.

“The summer class was full of exceptional experiences on the part of the participants, while the facilitators had a great opportunity to positively impact the lives of future agripreneurs, employers of labour and wealth creators. Specifically, the participants were able to use their hands to turn pineapple and pawpaw fruits into pineapple rings and pawpaw flakes, respectively, applying appropriate value addition techniques,” said Dr. Oyewole.

Teachers from various schools also benefited from the initiative as they were prepared for a sustainable means of survival through the Capacity Building on Tomato Value Addition for Lagos Teachers initiative.

Dr Oyewole stated that the initiative is an attempt to reward the committed teachers with skills and knowledge that can expand their source of income and also prepare for them a sustainable means of survival after retirement.

“It was this belief that gave birth to the free training tagged: “Capacity building on tomato value addition for Lagos teachers”. This programme has given NSPRI an opportunity to empower 22 committed teachers in the Education District IV of Lagos State with adequate skills in tomato value addition,” he stated.

Dr Oyewole called on the governments at all levels to give adequate coverage to postharvest management in the curriculum designed for agricultural science and livestock management/development in various schools across the country.

He emphasised that this will grant the students the opportunity to understand the importance of reducing losses in agriculture at their tender age.

“This is one of the paths to tow for us to complement the huge effort put into agricultural production towards making Nigeria a food-secure nation,” he said.