Vanguard, M ONDAY, N OVEMBER 5, 20 12 -
FinancialVanguard
Agric
01 AbubuJ,.QI Lawall, a
Plant
Bu~det IS
BRIEFS
with tile {).:.
polImeni 01 ClOP Sc,ence 01 Fuculry 01 Agllcullure, Us-
Godrej expands products portfolio with new brands
mQnu DanfodJYO Uruvet::ury. UDU, Sakata In th,s /lItervIew wltll Abdallah c/I\urebe. lIe spoke all plont gelldJCJl and the piOLC 01 bsoIt:clllIology /IIlhe prowSlon at food .k>cunly
Excetp'-' For. t\.iye.riiUllraditionitl farme.r, how would you de· scribe p lant geneticsJ
odreJ Nlgerld LUniled IdS expanded Its prod· ucts portfolio wllh the la.unch of new brands 1I1to the mar·
G
Plant genellcs 1S used In ago
nculture to develop new a.nd modern unproved
Vdrtel1e~
Ihrou9h plant breedmg. The vdneUes could be for tugh 1I11prO\'~ mmer,,) ,,"d
ket
The compdny's ~1arkeung Manager. Mr Mike Ogor. who dISclosed tillS said lhal In addJlion to theU' fJaglihlp brdnd, Thra Medicated Soap, they have mtroduced new products 1010 th~ dOIllHIIC
Y1eld.
\'lh'umn content. carl)' malurlUg, etc lion would you relate the pollll c .. ' will 01 I'lyerla.n
le .. d enhlp to the ayricullur. otJ n eeds o f the n.Uon l Que
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cOII\.l::lUelllly SdV
there. Ho\\,cvt:t. let us Walt and see, perhdP~ WIth all prolllb~ IIIdd~. wmc· tiung II\d't' (.'Olll~ out 01 It. We('"elltl) , the Globdl Foo d Security Jude:.: ollhe EcouoClIlstlnlelll!Jena! UJlil ranked 1'.lgella 80lh .unORg 105 oth· e.r countries on food Insecu· rity. Whdt do )01.1 st!t! iU tht! rCobOIl (or Ih is ugly develo l)' menU It 15 qwte unlonunate but the reasons that Nlgena IS laggll\9 behind m the p rovl· slon of lood s«unty for the cuzenry mclude madequate tundtng and mtrcutrudure tor research. lack of adequate ltnk between research dnd development. funding of development, where avatlable, 15 not realli· lIC or has been polltJC2ed dnd as such, does not reach the target fanners Do you see the curren t Ni· geria's AyricuJtur&l policy ill truly ilddreutng the problem 01 food crisis m the country' TIleoretlcdlly It can, but 11 hdS always been the problem of unplementaUoll. You CellUlOI transform Agriculture when lhe mJrdSlruclure 11 nol there you cannot supply tnputs through cell phones in a country where there IS no power and hleracy level IS low What do you see could be the role 01 Agrtcultural Blotecbnology In Improving food production In Nigeria .end by eJ[ tension, Alriedn (:Onbne.nU Agm:ulturdl Biotechnology can h:dd IIJ d qUdutwn leap III lood production II uub"ed dlectlvely and efhclently However. lllo.satety reguld' tlora Ulu:.tb~ rl"llpec1ed HiosCleRC't':s for Farming in Africa, B-I I:A hill come into the contin~nt WIth a view to creating ",w,ueness on th e need (or gov~rnmeDu and lumen here to wboUy adopt biotechnology In order to In· c rea.ie food production 10 meet up wiUI the over--grow· Ing popu.laUon As a plant breeder, bow would }'ou ad· vise the FC 0 11 Ullsf Government can adopt blo· tl!Chnology, There IS no prob. It!m With thdl but we must. hnt
35
IOdfket
Dr Abuoo}.:or LawoJi
tlldl It U. lIot
Agricultural Biotechnology can lead to quantum leap in food production -Dr. Abubakar Lawali of all. place all the blo.saJety regu.lauons m place. Ways (or improving food production are by genetical. Iy modifying planlJ as well H genetically engineerLag crops such thai ",'ould be reshi lant 10 delerring fadon like pests ud olber pldnl dbeases. AccordJllY 10 your
the creatIOn or develop· ment of very terrible and haz· ardous threat to the enVlfon· ment. And that 1$ why before you start. make sure that the blo.safety requ.latJons are be· mg observed. To my knowl· edge, the blO·satety IlIlw hdS been ptbsed by the National Assembly but not swetllt has 10
~ Agricultural Biotechnology can lead to a quantum leap in food production if uUlized effectively and efficiently. However; bio-safety regulations must be respected , research ilDd lin dings. how much 01 these;are 1'.lgerian fanners u.s.iDg J There IS prarucally none.u of now; perhaps In the near future If, according to your re· sedJ"cb flndlngs, no '\Jiyeri· ..n farm.er on the iI\'erdge is using yeRetic.Jly mo<illied pl,.nts and geneticall} engi· nee red crops, how d o we start as iI countryl Well you see the .....ay to stdn even In the countries that have started. the hNit Hung IS 10 put In place. the bID· safety regulal10ns hke I said earlier, What .:ue blo· safcly reguJauonslThese are regulations to ensure that there are no un· Wartdnled or unwdnted transfers of genetic mdten.us to sources tlldl they 4re not designed for. If Itru. takes place. then II Illcl\' lead
been assented to by Mr President. Even 11 It has been dssented to. what have we put In place 10 ensure that these thlllgs dre worlung7 If we don't ensure thelt they dre wodung and weJust luck· st4n Ihe proJect, I assure you that we WIll be III mort! trou· ble than we expect Yuu ha\'e OORsu-tenU y men· tioned the obSe.rviUlct 0 1 bio. silfe tl- regulations .. "' precondJbon for r-.;igerid's .doption of Agricullurill Bio tech· no logy. SpecifiCdlll-, ~bidl of Ihese regUlation are )'OU reo ferrlng to These Me regulatlons as to how dnd where you practice. how the laboratones will runc· 110n c1nd ~'en lhe farme~ are gOing to control. polltng transfer and so on. So. these tlnngs have \0 be worked upon by andtlonal commIttee of cxperu We hdve teemmg
professors OUI there Ihat could help In Uus regclfd What remains 1$ for the gov. ernment to present thts doc· ument for the ex:peru to do some work on ItS workability liow would lOU assess yo\'· e rnment' s s upport for r eo search and de\-elopmenl es· ped ally In the ilfea of agri· cultural biotechnology and the application 01 sucb research results for nationa.] de\'elopmenl1 The basiC tnlrastructure for biotechnology 15 laclung m the country as well as Iralll· mg and rettdlmng More 50, funding for biotechnology research IS laclung We also need to pnontlu and focus on certa..m key crops that will unmedlal~y solve the prob. lem of food lruecunty and fat economic empowerment III order to reduce poverty; pro· Vlde Job. through value ad· dmon to our crops, wtuch III tum will dttrdd mtematJonai
'"..rut
Yo n said there ls inade· quate link between rescucb aDd development. C dR lOU explain this'
When you go to Ihe ulUver· silies and check the shelves 01 the prolessors and other researcheD In Ihe unlVeDI· lies. there drt! d lot of reo seat'ches IYUlg With piles 01 dust In advanced countnes. commercial people and those mlhe pm'atesector go to the UlU\'ersllles. get the research· es and mass·produce them 1llat IS the name. you reo search and develop them nus 1$ the lmk between reo search and developmenl In our country, the pnvate sec· tor 15 not so orgalUsed to do that as an economIc actlVlt'i
rhe ne....- product,. are Good Kflight InsectiCide and BID OIL " he :'dld lie :.t<:lled tI\dllh~ liev-' prod U('b were IIItroduct-d to 1111 a gdp thl! consumer:. Idck. UI plClit.'ntly d\'<:Illdble products Accordmg to hUll. while Good Kmght IIh~ctlclde which comes in Aero,,;ol and mosqUIto COils protects con· sumers agalllit mosquilo bites. Blo OllIS sp«lally fo r· rnulated to solve slun care IS· sues of scafS, stretch marks. uneven slun tone, agelUg slun and dehydrated skin," He rurther staled that wtule some competitors' Aerosols leave some Irntatmg effects after use, the Good Insectt· clde IS fnendly on humans; Its umque formula and de· odonung properties create a pleasant upenence, s4Vlng the consumer of untatlon after use
lucky Fibres unveil new promo for Nobel carpets 8YTOHE.EB lOR I S
I
T ucky Fibres Pic has Ultra .l...d uced a new consumers' promotion tagged the "Nobel carpet guaranteed win·wlII bonanza .. Mr H amant Nahar. said that the promotion wruch has started runlUJig SU1ce October 240 dnd 10',,.111 end Dece:mber 2-1 . 2$)12.15 to appreciate and reo wurd the company', dittleUled customers for then pdtronage dnd loyalty to the brand Nahar added that the pro· mo 15 lalung place In 19 riUes across the country tndudtng Lagos. AhuJa. Akure. Ibddan. Kano. Kaduna, Port Hilrcoun. Benin. los and DllIuha Mr Nahar Idld the company haS H1vested several nul· lions 01 dollars In technol~y and capactty bUlldlRg of \tS human resources to dehver world cldSs produd to them ~ahar stressed further that WIth the acqwsltlon 4nd m· stallalJon of the new CPR 92 weaVlng machlRe Irom Bd· glUm wruch IS the brst and the best III sub Sahdra Atnca