By Suleiman Shehu
The Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Prof. Garba Sharubutu, has advised agricultural research institutes to work on research to enhance the nation’s food production.
Sharubutu gave the advice at the 2024 In-House Research Review of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) in Ibadan on Tuesday.
The executive secretary said the institutes must know that research was key to food production for Nigeria to achieve food security and nutrition.
Sharubutu said Nigerians desire food with all its complete minerals, which could only be achieved with research conducted and recommendations made on the right food.
“The diversity of nutrients must be available in all foods and this brings us to the importance of CRIN with its component mandates.
“The president declared a state of emergency on food and said he was going to look into the issue of commodity board.
“Commodity board cannot exist without commodity associations, therefore, CRIN must ensure they sponsor more commodity associations.
“It is through them that we can be sure we are carrying the farmers along,” Sharubutu said.
He called on the institutes to package programmes centred on the president’s agenda of bringing food to the table of Nigerians for it to be properly funded.
“Whatever research you want to do; you must subject it to proper screening, and it must be in line with the agenda of the president.
“Today, we are talking about food security and for that to happen, we must probably screen those proposals,” he said.
He said that the Federal Government has established a National Agricultural Development Fund to fund research.
Earlier, CRIN Executive Director, Dr Patrick Adebola, said the in-house review was for CRIN to showcase its capacity to serve the farmers well.
Adebola said the institute was established in 1964 with mandates on Cocoa, Kola, Coffee, Cashew and Tea.
The institute, he said, had since its establishment been striving to produce genetically suitable materials to meet farmers’ needs in the area of high yield, disease and pest resistance. (NAN)