Country Coordinator, Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology, OFAB, Rose Gidado says unless the Federal Government declares state of emergency in food production, Nigeria will face a severe post-COVID-19 food crisis.
Speaking with journalists on Monday on the country’s food system, Gidado advocated for the adoption of Genetically Modified organisms, GMOs during and after the Coronavirus pandemic to ensure food sustainability.
She said that achieving sustainable food supply in Nigeria, under the Covid-19 era would be difficult without declaring a state of emergency in food production and adopting appropriate technologies in agriculture.
According to her, whether or not the country will be able to recover from the looming food crisis only depend on the type of approaches adopted.
Gidado, who is also a Deputy Director, National Biotechnology Development Agency, NABDA said the technology of genetic modification of crops was a promising tool in mitigating the negative effect of the pandemic on food security.
She further said that the application of GM in agriculture to create resistant plant resources had been used to achieve food security in some advanced countries.
Gidado maintained that climate smart GM seeds that would reduce the need for routine farm practices while ensuring higher yields should be adopted by the government and other stakeholders.
She assured that the combination of agricultural biotechnology tools offered an exciting and environmentally responsible way to meet consumer demand for sustainable agriculture in this period of COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
She revealed that these had been proven as practice to reduce human contact in agriculture, necessary in curbing the spread of coronavirus.
She stressed the need for investment in human capital development and infrastructure, adding that high literacy level meant rapid adoption of new technologies and innovations.
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She noted that good roads promote easy transportation of farm produce. Gidado said that availability of agricultural input like fertiliaer, certified seeds of improved varieties and agro-chemicals through smart input subsidies to farmers would increase food production and secure national food supply.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
