Expert Tasks FG On Food Processing Companies

An agriculture expert Mr. Alpheaus Kimbeghi, has urged the Federal Government to invest more in agriculture and food processing companies to address poverty in the country.

Kimbeghi told our correspondent  in Abuja that if the President Goodluck Jonathan administration redirected its focus on agriculture by establishing food processing companies, it would create employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the country.

“Food processing is a very vital area that most of the foods we are having in the country are badly produced.

“Because our foods are badly processed, that causes a lot of sicknesses, appendicitis and lots of other things caused by bad food processing.

“These are areas that we can tap, that can give about more than 50 per cent employment that can make us to live very comfortably; that area will boost even agriculture.’’

Kimbeghi said that locally processed foods posed a lot of danger to the populace because food items were normally exposed to dust and chemicals by their processors.

“Take a sample of garri from the local market, put water in it and see dirt floating on it and sand depositing at the bottom. This dirt settles in the human system and wreaks havoc,’’ he added.

He urged the Jonathan administration to take a vital look at the area to support and encourage farmers and agriculturists to return to the sector.

“This government should be involved to encourage the industry in a large form; it will strengthen and encourage them to plant more, which would in turn, boost our economy,’’ he said.

Kimbeghi tasked government to make processing equipment available at subsidised rates for local farmers to aid better food processing.

He noted that investment in food processing would also trigger small scale industries’ interest in the production of organic fertiliser.

The expert maintained that waste products from cassava, yam, fruit, seeds and fruit peels were useful for fertilizer production.

He said food processing would also could curb wastage of food as every aspect of farm produce was vital.