m EGUARDIAN, Sunda~ July 24, 2011
Lamentations Of Local Premix Producer Says People Prefer To Import Bv OIlJurode Ovelty1l N Ldea that may weil ht In to the trilLisformation 'lgenda of the federal government is to encourage oeal specialised com panics Stich that whdt Is being imported today could be produced locally within the nut five years. On what should be done to make Ihls hJppen, pa n icularly In the food and nutrl· tlon industry, Dr. Kenny Acholonu, on Friday, advised the government to pay attention {O high villue adding indust ries in order to ..lchieve a "rapid economic growth." The chief execmive officer of tlio.()rganic Nutrients System, a \lri ...ate sector food and fced premix ble:Il(J· ing pl;mt, amented (he \'otume of money going into importation of food produCls annuall), in Nigeria, when In fact m.1ny such products could be produced locil ily. According to him, 35 per cent of India's GDP of one lrill ion US dollars isderi\'ed fro m manuf..lcturing, but Nigeria sl~nd5 billioM of n..lir~ to impon dairy products annually. Ind ia and China, for instance, make vitamin A. nicoll· namlne, potassium iodate, potaSSium chloride, ~whlch we Import," said Ac holonu, but ~allthost' prooucu must be madt' a\'ailabte here, to add value: He ther;~· fon- urgrtlthe government to help the local proouct'rs to ~get protected (In order to be able) to produce." lie observed tha t "the industrial policy In Ind l~ encour· aged 10c..lI production." and various wcounnles are :~I~i~~ : :~~~, no r to protecl bad companies but good
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In t~e food ..lnd feed ~remlx proceSSing indus[Cy, Or. .... cholonu argued Ihat there is no monopoly· hilt that knowledge about what should be done W is avallablt' everywhere: I-lis opinion and advice was that oper..l· lors should ensure they produce products that are globally .1cceptilble and th..lt ~com pani es that do things very well should not tal k of monopoly," He said, however, that "there is now a monopofy of bad producers." Acholonu expressed dissatisfaction wLth rhe ruJttllt simalion. uying that, "in agro·processlng, no com· pany concelllrateson qUilli[}' parameters such as mols· lure level, microbial load or packaging m;uerials." lie Ciled casuva flour productiOn as an t'X..lmple, observ· illg thal the users will rt'ject anything that f,tlis shon of expected quality.. On quality, he pointed out that while there is need to emphaSise local st..lndard as In Niltional Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFOAC) and Standaros OrganiS..ltion of Nigeria (SON), it Is imponantto have global srandard, forins tances .15 III the World Ilealt h OrganiSoltlon stan· dards. Such st.:tnda rds, he noted, ilpply to processing, packaging and delivery to consumers. In Ihe US, fie said, every egg or beef has USDA imprint and Nigeri..l musl enforce something hlte this ~so that locill proc6slng companks can galn.~ He expressed discontent whF. government poricies, su ess[ng that companies that ha ...e In ...ested much to produce high tech food ingred ients are not being parronl sed loutly while many prefer to impon. A lot of changes have laken place In the performance levels of animals based on ..ld",ances In the sdence of nUlrltion as Acholonu recalled tha t, "In 1950, II took ilbout eighl weeks (0 produce two kilogrammes of brotlerchicken. Now. it takes about five weeks and two days. It is nOt profitable If it Is longer than this." ,.he shon ening of ume and th e increased rate of feed con· version are pointers to the ad ...ances in feed ingredl. ellts..lnd premix technology. A Non-IER (hlng Acholonu complained about was
IlJ.... hat he referred (0 as ~prOiein mal nutrltlon.~This
and "'",getable malnutrition. according to him, Is an issue and not what people assulne to be carbohydrate malnutrition. wMicronUl'riems; he said, -are hidden In potato, wheat, pawpaw, orange, mango and banana, and their prices are a renection of their ImportOince. ForcX4lmple, banana is ...el)'imponant in Nigena.~ To make up for Lhe missing nutrientS in diets, he said
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PHOTO: OI.IJI(AYODE IIYUEYE
"all those products must be made available here, to add value... companies that do things very well should not talk of monopoly.. . in agro-processing, no company concentrates on quality parameters such as moisture level, microbial load or packaging materials." -Industrial mdnuraCture ofvlraminsand minelllb Is one of the cllcilpestways fO solve malnutrition." He observed that "it isdif· Ocult fo doagriculrural procesSing ..... Ithout companies focused on high quantyst.1ndard products. wUe described the food and
feed premix business as a -high tech mduS[ry,~ stating tha t raw milterials such ~s vil..lmlns and enzymes are commonlnllms, He tried to e,Stablish che relationship between balanced nutrient com~n enlS and the quali[)' of health and performance of pe0ple. You cannot have world class player in anything in Nigeria 1... lthou[ proper nu[rltlon." For Acholonu, who clai ms his company is the only indigenous ISO 22,000 [ertlfied premix blending plant in Africa, dpan rrom Ihe South Africa·based DSM, which is foreign·owned, it is OJ sad thing thaI people seem to prefer patronising those who produce s ub-std ndilrd products. His Iilmentatlon is summw up In his proclamation thdt ~we a re doing things so welt SO, people should come here," but deSpite all (hat, "lhls company is running at 12 per centlnSlalled capacity because of depemlence on importa· tlon" by those who shoulcf patronise local producers.
Weeds Threaten Food Security, Says Don from GordI Ud"'~ UIIUIHa EDS - like Hoods, drought, Insect'pests and diseases have been Identified as threats to food securil)' in Africa. This was Ihe submission of Friday EkelelOe, a professor of Weed Sci· ence, during his Inaugurallecrure atrheMichaelOkllilraUniversityof Agrlcullure, Umudlke (MOUA), reo cently.. In thatleaure, which was the eleventh inlhe university, Ekeleme hinged this s ubmission on Food and' Agricultural Organisalion
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(FAO)year2000reponlhal~weeds
represent the most impomnr pest complex stagnating r,lelds and prodUctlOn, partlcularry n Africa, wF.e~ control relies heavLly on manual labour. During his lecLUre titled ~Crop Vampires: Strategies For Sus· tainable Management in Small· holder fanning System in Nigeria," hesaldweedsareanlmponantcrop production constraint In many smallholder Carming sr,stems in the humid and sub-humd nopics of West Afrtca. According to hlm, lnNigeriaand In· deed In die whole of sub-Saharan Africa, fa rmers face tremendous
yield losses in almostall crops due [0 weed infestation, -Crop loss oC up t'O 100 percent are common, es· pecla lly with noxiOuS weeds such as Imperdfa cylindrica, rhe parasilic weeds such as the Sr.ilfd spp. and the CUSCUCol specJes. In Africa, yield losses of cereal crop due to Strlga hemlOnChiCa alone amounts (0 over US S 7 billion IN980 billion I annually." HesaldthatStrlgaaffeccsthe llV6 or over 40 per cenr oC arable land In the savannah region, according to IrrAI998 report, and thatAlectra Infestation In cowpeol can ca use
yield losses or 41 to 100 million reopie In the sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, he disclosed thdt yield iossl".S due to uncontrolled weed growth In lowland and upland rice production systems in Nigeria can range between 28 and 100 percent, with yield losses due to weeds vary· Ing conSiderably world wide, d~ pending on the weed species, tntenslty of weed population, competitivea bliityofthecr0r., duratIOn of weed Inf~tarion, 5011 ,,-nlllty, eli· marlc conditions, physiGiI and blo10glc.11 Cactors of the soil as wel1 .u managementfaaors.
. The comrol of noxious weeds, he said, poses even greater ch..lllenge to smallholder famlers who use a wide variety of labour·intenslve practices fO combat this weed. The Ekeleme, howel'ee, noted that weeds are not aJJ evil but could be a gold mine, ..lddlng that -apan from perionnlng tmpo"an! ecosystem funcl ions, weeds serve as food and medicine to .1nimals and humilns.. He Solid, ~a fewyeil!S back, Nigerians declared war on Ihe weed called Phyllanthus dln..llUS for medicinal purposes. Today this weed is head· Ing towards extinction."