World Food Day: NIFST Tasks Stakeholders On Food Security

The Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Mr Sunday Bamgboshe, last Monday urged stakeholders to collaborate to ensure food security in the country.
Bamgboshe, who spoke in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, said that extent of investment in food security in the country had not been far reaching.
According to him, many stakeholders in the agriculture sector have not been putting into practice methods that will promote food security that will ensure that the country becomes self-reliant to feed the population.
The Tide reports that every October 16 is usually set aside by the Food and Agriculture Organisation ((FAO)) as the World Food Day.
He said that if the needful was done, the country would not be having issues with feeding the teeming population and  exports of agricultural products with value addition would have been a success.
Bamgboshe said that to ensure food security in the country, NIFST had embarked on collaboration with the Lagos State Government.
“The partnership with Lagos State Government is to make food safety a reality in the state and by extension the country.
“As Lagos carries the largest population of all the states in the country, and if we get it right with the collaboration, it will be a giant stride for us in the industry.
“This will give us room and make it easier to replicate same in other state,” he said.
He said that food security could be looked at from two main angles; availability of food at affordable price and the quality of the available food.
The NIFST chairman said that to achieve food security, one needed to start from the basics such as cost,  technical inputs, fertiliser and herbicides.
He said that farmers also needed to be encouraged to get value for their efforts through low interest loans.