By Juliet Umeh

Managing Director of Gracefm Seda Services Limited, Miss Florence Ogizeh, has called on the federal government to commit more funding on food processing research for safe products in Nigeria.

Gracefm Seda Services is a Nigerian start-up, leveraging on technology for agricultural produce.

Ogizeh was part of Lagos State National Youth Service Corps, NYSC 2015 Batch B members. She passed out as Best Serving Corps member. She was trained at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan, and Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodin, FIIRO on food processing.

According to her, a lot of Nigerian farmers lack standard food processing skills, adding that majority put their products under the sun or by the road side, making them unhealthy for consumption.

She said if government could focus on food processing research, it will not only save a lot of food wastages but enable upcoming entrepreneurs develop new ideas and at the end of the day, encourage huge export base for products from Nigeria.

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Ogizeh said: “Federal government has tried so far, there are intervention funds everywhere and if you are into agric, it becomes very easy for you to access. But I want them to look into the area of grants. Loans are not meant for research but run a business.

“I want government to look into upcoming entrepreneurs that are developing new ideas and are into research because at the end of the day we can export these products and it will be safe for people outside the country.”

She added, “I’m appealing to the government, in as much as they have tried to release funds for agric, they should also look at the areas where they can release grants for research and processing.”

Ogizeh told Hi-tech that her products are natural but produced with the aid of technology.

Vanguard