CRIN advocates more funds to boost agricultural research

The Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), yesterday, called on the Federal Government to dedicate more funds for research, especially in agriculture, to address the challenges of food security and others.

Executive Director of CRIN, Patrick Adebola, who stated this during a media parley to mark the 60th anniversary of the Institute in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, urged Nigerians and especially the National Assembly to consider voting more funds for agricultural research.

According to him, if the agriculture sector is developed to international standard, the issues of unemployment, poverty, terrorism and other vices confronting Nigeria would all subside automatically, adding that millions of people that somehow idle and available for crime and other untoward activities would be engaged.

He lamented that challenges of Nigeria are not about the dearth of experts, but the fact that majority of them do not have the necessary funds to work.

He also identified electricity power problem as another major setbacks, saying: “In most of the research institutes in Nigeria, most of the expert researchers oftentimes used their meagre personal resources to fund research sometimes. Our appeal is for the government to vote more funds for research on agriculture.