NISPRI Prioritises Food Preservation

The Head of Department,
(HOD), Nigerian Stored Products Research (NSPRI) Institute, Port Harcourt, Mr. Duru Samuel, has said the NSPRI has fabricated  a number of structures to enable those in the agribusiness sector preserve their produce.
Samuel, who stated this while speaking to our correspondent at the recent World Food Day celebration event in Port Harcourt, said the last two quarters of 2014 witnessed a leap in the production of various appliances and structures meant for food and agricultural preservation purposes.
“In the last two quarters, agricbusiness has been boosted with the construction of appliances for the preservation of various crops and agriculture produce”, he said.
Some of such products, according to him, include vegetables preserver, periwinkle preservers, fruits and other perishables amongst others.
On the process of preserving fish, he  said wastages have been drastically reduced through the use of a fabricated fish drier  that uses  charcoal as its main source of energy.
According to him, NISPRI has used public campaigns effectively to enlighten the public on the uses of its products.
He said even though some of the business farmers complain of lack of funds, they still avail themselves of the services of NISPRI.
On challenges facing the organisation Samuel called on the federal government to increase its funding to enable the organisation meet set goals.
According to him, such challenges could be surmounted if public-spirited individuals and corporate organisation put in their quota.
He said since the work of the organisation centred on the need to checking wastage of food and all agricultural produce in the country, a collective effort was needed in the  realisation of such goals.