‘NSPRI’s Funding, Panacea To Food Wastages’

An agricultural engineer,  Mr. Mensah Muzan, has called on the  Federal  Government to increase funding of the Nigerian  Stored products  Research Institute (NSPRI).
Muzan, who stated this, while speaking to The Tide in a telephone interview  recently, said the move would help in checking  wastage of farm  produce  during  harvest periods.
According to him, it was regrettable that produce such as corn, pea,  mangoes and other seasonal  crops were often  wasted shortly after  harvest.
The Rivers State University alumnus further explained  that the setting up of NSPRI had good intentions, but for poor  funding, the institute  would have been the answer to wastages, experienced at harvest.
“I believe that NSPRI can adequately deliver on their mandate of preservation if properly funded.
“The issue of post-harvest and post-storage to check wastages can be addressed if there is an holistic approach to its operations,” he said.
He further called on the  Federal Government to put  more efforts  in improving the power sector to enable such agencies deliver on their mandates.
“Actually, without steady power supply, such  institutes  cannot operate optimally, especially at this time that the country is in recession”.
Muzan, who  is also an advocate of diversification of the economy from oil in different fora called for  participation in  agriculture among the citizenry.