FG, centre move to address post harvest losses by farmers

30% of food produced by Nigerian farmers perish during post-harvest, says FG

As FG Concessions 17 silos with 6000 metric tonne storage capacity to enable farmers to have access to storage facilities

The federal government has said that over 30 per cent of food produced in Nigeria every year is challenged by post-harvest losses due to a lack of storage facilities transportation and lack of equipment.

To address the problem of post-harvest losses being experienced by farmers, the federal government has concession 17 silos with 6000 metric tonne storage space to the private sector to enable farmers to have access to storage facilities.

The government has also established green aggregation centres that will clean, dry, process and bag our finished products and this will attract over N18 billion to the economy.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, who disclosed this at the Second West and Central Africa Post-Harvest Congress and Exhibition (WCAPHCE) 2022 with the theme, “Upscaling and Promotion of African Indigenous Food to global standards” in Abuja, said that the responsibility of government is to provide enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy adding that government is working to ensure that the food security in Nigeria and Africa is addressed.

The minister who was represented by the Director, of Food and Strategic Reserve in the Ministry, Dr Haruna Suleiman, explained that the green aggregation centres would enable farmers have access to be able to clean and dry their agricultural produce during harvests and to reduce post-harvest losses and also add value to whatever is being produced through these centres.

He said, “The major problem being faced by farmers in the country is post-harvest losses as a result of, transportation, lack of equipment that can add value to what is produced, and lack of storage facilities. In addressing this problem, the Federal government has concession 17 silos with 6000 metric tonne storage space to the private sector and also established green aggregation centres that will clean, dry, process and bag our finished products and this will attract over N18 billion to the economy. the responsibility of government is to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy”.

The Vice Chancellor of the Benue State University, Prof Tor Lorapuu said that the institution is working collectively and other partners to ensure not just indigenous food production, but also ensuring that post-harvest losses are curtailed to the best of our ability.

He stated that this could be achieved through research and practical strategies that have been given to local and large-scale farmers e farmers and commended the Federal government for providing silos across the country to ensure the private sector enhances the capacity of local farmers to ensure food storage and post-harvest losses.

Also speaking, the Director, of the Center of Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Barnabas Ikyo said that the Centre focuses on reducing post-harvest food losses in West and Central Africa adding that there is a need to refocus attention on indigenous food, creating a market for them and enhance their economic viability so that farmers can be able to produce more to stop the import and reduce the export-import deficit.

He noted that there are existing, rules and regulations as well as market and price control agencies in the country that should regulate the prices of commodities but lacks implementation.

Ikyo observed that the centre is developing models and online platforms that will index all food crops in Nigeria, so that people who want to buy or sell anywhere they are, can go online and see the amount they are sold in different parts of the country.

“With this, farmers can know how much a bag of groceries sold in Abuja, so farmers have this registration and they will be able to say okay, instead of selling this in the market, let me take you to Abuja sell, already there we want in third parties who are going to facilitate the insurance transporters are getting involved monoprint is involved on the money aspect of it. And we think that when a project like this is supported by the farmer we will have more value in the produce and people will go into food processing to add value to the products the food produced and then they will stay longer on the shelf because the biggest problem which we have been trying to solve is post-harvest loss. In this workshop, you’re going to see how you can process things like tomatoes at the farm level and they can stay on the shelf for four months. How do you dehydrate some other fresh vegetables and keep them to still maintain the fresh taste when they are cooked? We are trying to promote this to the farmers so that they know how to do it and so that the businessman doesn’t threaten the farmer when they go to the market to buy tomatoes from them. Whether the farmer knows that even if I take this basket of tomatoes back home, It can stay with me for tomatoes for the next four months and I will sell it”.