By Ozioruva Aliu

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, has lamented that inadequate storage facilities for farm products were responsible for the loss of 60 per cent of farm produce before consumption.

As a way forward, he stressed the need for government at all levels to focus more on the production of storage and processing facilities in the rural areas to eliminate post-harvest losses.

Agba in Benin City, Edo State, yesterday, at the 7th Biennial Retreat of Weppa Wanno Pyramid Club of Nigeria with the theme: ‘Security Challenges in our Communities: the Way Forward,’ noted that Nigeria must not compare itself with America, which, according to him, was racing to space because they have conquered hunger.

He said: “I pushed very strongly in the various committees that I belong to. Even in the Blueprint Advisory Committee, which is chaired by the Vice President, I have taken my stand that we should not copy Americans, who are racing to space because they have conquered hunger. They have taken care of basic infrastructure. If we copy them, we will miss our way.

“We have to go back to the basics. To me, that basis is rural development, ensuring that we create the environment to encourage value-adding industries, and build those value changes.

“We should ensure that we have storage facilities; processing facilities that would reduce, if not eliminate, post-harvest losses which is currently put at 50 to 60 percent depending on what type of commodities.

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“So, every 10,000 tonnes of food we produced, we lose 6,000, it doesn’t get to the market and for me, I don’t think that increasing the number of acreages is the solution because if you increase the number of acreages to produce more, you are also invariably, geometrically increasing the percentage of post-harvest losses,” he said.

The Minister who was given an award of excellence by the Club, pointed out advantages various regions of the country have as regards food and its production, stressing that this could be utilized by the country.

In his keynote address, Dr Kennedy Izuagbe said frustration was responsible for some persons going into kidnapping and banditry and recommended amnesty for the category that could be identified.

Vanguard News Nigeria