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To enhance food security and industrialisation, a professor of Industrial Microbiology, Olakunle David Teniola, has urged the Federal Government to overhaul its strategic planning and give attention to food industry development.
He also gave the assurance that if grants were made available to explore more potential of the nation’s bio resources, “better results leading to complete (100 per cent) crude petroleum removal may be guaranteed by my team’s expertise.”
Teniola said this at the inaugural lecture of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Tecgnology (OSUSTECH), Okitipupa, on Wednesday, entitled: “Invisible soldiers and fermentation: Impact on food security and industrialisation.”
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He said the government must prioritise the food industry rather than investing heavily on the “complex unattainable technologies like space technology, war equipment production even auto and electronics industries.”
He, however, lamented that the food fermentation processes in Africa were lagging behind at the cottage level, saying the traditional fermented food production needed more improvement and investment.
He identified poor national planning, inadequate raw materials, illiteracy, corruption, lack of basic infrastructures and over-dependence on foreign machines, among others, as limitations to food industrialisation and wealth in Africa.
Listing the numerous benefits of fermentation, he affirmed that the traditional methods should be upgraded to develop the economic potential of the nation, and to create more employment opportunities for youths.
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