Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Jun 8, 2018 20:23:03 GMT 1
In this piece, FADARE ADEKANMI, Editor, The Thy Communications writes on how Nigeria can live on agriculture at a relative ease through the application of biotechnology. It appears successive governments seem not to have taken biotechnology seriously.
Technologies similar to these that have been domesticated by Biocrops should become the focus of the new government to equip our teaming population of youths, giving them necessary livelihood and providing skills that would link agriculture to industrial production, while not neglecting the need to provide nourishment for Nigerians in an affordable way. Fruit juice manufacturers for an example, would thus be able to use concentrates derived from farm-fresh produce which result from harvest time-enabled farming that only biotechnology offers. The factories will be fed with produce which are timed for harvest in a manner that would ensure continuous operations in an industrial setting. The sugar industry for example, which needs to grow at the rate of 25 per cent/annum for the next 20 years to meet our sugar needs, would have seedlings supply capacity domesticated in Nigeria. We will eventually have an indigenous sugarcane ascension that is well adapted to our climate. Biotechnology has the tools to provide jobs and at the same time, improve our productivity and income.
Every university of agriculture, every department of agriculture, and every institution of higher learning should have a minimum of the facilities that we have at Biocrops for seedlings production as part of their training tool. Their students must be prepared for the next vista of agriculture, which is commercial scale and industry ready agriculture. This is only applicable by using non-offensive biotechnologies. The real job numbers come from technical and vocational education training. Up to 70 per cent of the skill needs of agriculture could be met by focusing on producing the right calibre of workers. The cost of providing these skills are much lower than the higher education needs of agriculture. Biocrops continuously opens up its facilities for training and research in agriculture.
By investing in biotechnology, government can generate more jobs with an investment of no more than $1bn dollars provided that all the money will be invested in this sector. Beneficiary sub-sectors are sugar, cocoa, cotton, rubber and palm oil. Others are ornamentals, fruit and many tree crops, including timber wood trees. In the sugar sector for example, we have the capacity to produce four million seedlings per annum. The number will directly cover approximately 300 hectares of land. Cuttings after the first year can cover additional 10,000 hectares. If we expand our capacity ten fold, productivity will cover 3,000 hectares. This productivity will lead to more than 1,000 plantation workers, 100 factory workers, 1,000 marketers of finished crystal sugar etc.
A total of 2,300 jobs could be generated with a simple increase in capacity. If Nigeria invests in 100 facilities like Biocrops, Nigeria will reach self sufficiency in sugarcane seedlings supply in less than 10 years. In another 20 years, Nigeria could begin to export sugar to neighboring countries. This is only possible with biotechnology. Brazil, our major supplier of sugarcane, use this technology to meet its seedling needs. Nigeria should emulate Brazil in applying cutting edge technologies that are not controversial like genetic modification but are effective. Cocoa and other cash crops could be mass-multiplied in a manner that would impact our yield, while using good quality seedlings.
Also the phytosanitary standards of these crops could be easily increased, assuring that they qualify in quality for entry into the international market. With the appropriately trained TVET specialists manning our most critical sectors of agriculture, Nigeria can use biotechnology to the best advantage, providing the world with better quality food and farm produce, ramping-up its industrial production of agro-allied products, managing its waste by converting them into useful items and finally becoming a credit worthy nation. The low-hanging fruit technologies associated with biotechnology are sufficient and enough to generate income from its investments. Biotechnology is one of the tools needed to diversify the Nigerian economy. True biotechnology is acceptable to the people, its products add value to peoples' lives, is kind to and protects the environment, adds value to products and services and is relevant to our needs and most importantly, very affordable.
The biosafety law is necessary. GMOs are everywhere now and we can only ignore this fact to our detriment. Advocacy is ahead of the science here in Nigeria, and we are losing out in the skills development, which is an unfortunate Nigerian malady. The new knowledge in genetic engineering is driving modern agriculture and medicine and we should be skilled at least in this modern science. The need therefore arises for us to enact laws to protect our environment and our people. The currently enacted law, however, has many flaws, occasioned by the fact that the law was drafted in the era of wastefulness, where government office dials would not blink before suggesting the establishment of yet another rent-seeking agency of government. The law could have mirrored those establishing regulatory functions for NCC and NAFDAC. These are agencies that can bark and bite, when they choose to. The country could have benefited more if these regulatory functions were embedded in existing agencies of government, rather than creating a new one.
Furthermore, Nigeria needs to make strategic decisions on what GMOs should allow into Nigeria and what nature of research and training to be conducted in Nigeria. For example, we can decide that we should focus on non-food GMOs like rubber and cotton. The tyre manufacturing sector of the automobile industry and the textile industry would blossom based on such positioning. Air conditioner sealants, car wipers, vibration dampers in automobiles are examples of rubber products that could benefit from a reinvigorated rubber plantation. Presently, virtually all vehicle tyres are imported. Nigeria needs to start from scratch in order to impact on this industry. We stand a better chance if we own the knowledge on GM rubber and cotton for example. Without a regulatory law guiding the use of these materials, there may be chaos. In summary, even though there is now a law, we need to deal with the imperfections in order to efficiently benefit from the new knowledge. These can lead to many new industries that would power our economy. Without any doubt in my mind, no one can do GMO in Nigeria today.
Technologies similar to these that have been domesticated by Biocrops should become the focus of the new government to equip our teaming population of youths, giving them necessary livelihood and providing skills that would link agriculture to industrial production, while not neglecting the need to provide nourishment for Nigerians in an affordable way. Fruit juice manufacturers for an example, would thus be able to use concentrates derived from farm-fresh produce which result from harvest time-enabled farming that only biotechnology offers. The factories will be fed with produce which are timed for harvest in a manner that would ensure continuous operations in an industrial setting. The sugar industry for example, which needs to grow at the rate of 25 per cent/annum for the next 20 years to meet our sugar needs, would have seedlings supply capacity domesticated in Nigeria. We will eventually have an indigenous sugarcane ascension that is well adapted to our climate. Biotechnology has the tools to provide jobs and at the same time, improve our productivity and income.
Every university of agriculture, every department of agriculture, and every institution of higher learning should have a minimum of the facilities that we have at Biocrops for seedlings production as part of their training tool. Their students must be prepared for the next vista of agriculture, which is commercial scale and industry ready agriculture. This is only applicable by using non-offensive biotechnologies. The real job numbers come from technical and vocational education training. Up to 70 per cent of the skill needs of agriculture could be met by focusing on producing the right calibre of workers. The cost of providing these skills are much lower than the higher education needs of agriculture. Biocrops continuously opens up its facilities for training and research in agriculture.
By investing in biotechnology, government can generate more jobs with an investment of no more than $1bn dollars provided that all the money will be invested in this sector. Beneficiary sub-sectors are sugar, cocoa, cotton, rubber and palm oil. Others are ornamentals, fruit and many tree crops, including timber wood trees. In the sugar sector for example, we have the capacity to produce four million seedlings per annum. The number will directly cover approximately 300 hectares of land. Cuttings after the first year can cover additional 10,000 hectares. If we expand our capacity ten fold, productivity will cover 3,000 hectares. This productivity will lead to more than 1,000 plantation workers, 100 factory workers, 1,000 marketers of finished crystal sugar etc.
A total of 2,300 jobs could be generated with a simple increase in capacity. If Nigeria invests in 100 facilities like Biocrops, Nigeria will reach self sufficiency in sugarcane seedlings supply in less than 10 years. In another 20 years, Nigeria could begin to export sugar to neighboring countries. This is only possible with biotechnology. Brazil, our major supplier of sugarcane, use this technology to meet its seedling needs. Nigeria should emulate Brazil in applying cutting edge technologies that are not controversial like genetic modification but are effective. Cocoa and other cash crops could be mass-multiplied in a manner that would impact our yield, while using good quality seedlings.
Also the phytosanitary standards of these crops could be easily increased, assuring that they qualify in quality for entry into the international market. With the appropriately trained TVET specialists manning our most critical sectors of agriculture, Nigeria can use biotechnology to the best advantage, providing the world with better quality food and farm produce, ramping-up its industrial production of agro-allied products, managing its waste by converting them into useful items and finally becoming a credit worthy nation. The low-hanging fruit technologies associated with biotechnology are sufficient and enough to generate income from its investments. Biotechnology is one of the tools needed to diversify the Nigerian economy. True biotechnology is acceptable to the people, its products add value to peoples' lives, is kind to and protects the environment, adds value to products and services and is relevant to our needs and most importantly, very affordable.
The biosafety law is necessary. GMOs are everywhere now and we can only ignore this fact to our detriment. Advocacy is ahead of the science here in Nigeria, and we are losing out in the skills development, which is an unfortunate Nigerian malady. The new knowledge in genetic engineering is driving modern agriculture and medicine and we should be skilled at least in this modern science. The need therefore arises for us to enact laws to protect our environment and our people. The currently enacted law, however, has many flaws, occasioned by the fact that the law was drafted in the era of wastefulness, where government office dials would not blink before suggesting the establishment of yet another rent-seeking agency of government. The law could have mirrored those establishing regulatory functions for NCC and NAFDAC. These are agencies that can bark and bite, when they choose to. The country could have benefited more if these regulatory functions were embedded in existing agencies of government, rather than creating a new one.
Furthermore, Nigeria needs to make strategic decisions on what GMOs should allow into Nigeria and what nature of research and training to be conducted in Nigeria. For example, we can decide that we should focus on non-food GMOs like rubber and cotton. The tyre manufacturing sector of the automobile industry and the textile industry would blossom based on such positioning. Air conditioner sealants, car wipers, vibration dampers in automobiles are examples of rubber products that could benefit from a reinvigorated rubber plantation. Presently, virtually all vehicle tyres are imported. Nigeria needs to start from scratch in order to impact on this industry. We stand a better chance if we own the knowledge on GM rubber and cotton for example. Without a regulatory law guiding the use of these materials, there may be chaos. In summary, even though there is now a law, we need to deal with the imperfections in order to efficiently benefit from the new knowledge. These can lead to many new industries that would power our economy. Without any doubt in my mind, no one can do GMO in Nigeria today.
