Baker Urges Economic Growth Through Sorghum Dev

A baker, Mr. Ogu Odu,
has called on the federal government to evolve a policy for the development of Sorghum in the country.
Odu, who spoke to our correspondent in Port Harcourt, on Monday, said it was disheartening to note that Nigeria has not tapped the full potentials of Sorghum to its economic advantage.
According to him, Nigeria being the highest producer of sorghum in the world was yet to reap the benefits of using it for the production of high energy food as was done by other countries.
Odu said since sorghum grains are used in the production of flour and cattle feed, the fastest way for Nigeria to unlock the potentials in sorghum is to turn it into other values that people can use.
It could be recalled that the federal government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigeria Breweries Plc to  collaborate on the development  and commercialization of hybrid sorghum as part of its sustainability programme.
During the ceremony, the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was quoted to have said that the ministry reached out to 96,000 sorghum farmers in 2013.
The minister further explained that the farmers were provided with improved inputs, seeds and fertilizers in order to enhance the development of the value chain.
Adesina added that the ministry would scale-up the access to about 2.5 million farmers in the North that will grow sorghum.
“We are the largest producers of the crop in the world which means we should use them.
“We are not doing well in adding value to what we have been blessed with.
According to the minister then, the ministry would  make sure that Nigeria does not import high energy food for the eradication of malnutrition.