NACGRAG charts way forward to boost food security
By Sade Oguntola
From left: Prof. Bamidele Solomon, DG,
National Biotechnolog Development Agency,
Abuja and Mr. Wasiu Odofin, Director/CEO,
NACGRAG, Ibadan, at the meeting organised
by the centre recently in Ibadan.
Photo: Peter Emiola.
The importance of having a vibrant genetic
resources base to ensure a sustainable production
of Nigeria’s staple food crops and animals came to the fore at the first National Committee meeting of the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) held in Ibadan. The meeting was meant to channel the future course of genetic resources conservation in Nigeria and streamline it with the reality of the day.
With the centre’s mandates including preservation and maintenance of valuable plant genetic resources, development of capacities in bio-resources and biotechnology as well as supporting activities to name and register and release crops varieties, livestock breed and fisheries, the institute’s Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Wasiu Odofin, said the institute has recorded many notable achievements that made it outstanding.
In his welcome address, he said, “We have over 400 accessions added to the seed gene bank in the last two years, developed protocols for some horticultural and economic tree crops such as bitter leaf, plantain, cassava, teak and locust beans by tissue culture and in collaboration with Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso and Centre for Environmental, Renewable Natural Resources Management Research and Development (CENRAD) established shea butter plants through the propagation of the seed”.
“The centre also embarked on a project with the Ondo state government to ensure commercial production of plantain and banana seedlings using tissue culture techniques, “ he declared.
The Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja, Prof. Bamidele Solomon, speaking at the occasion said the way forward for the institute should be forming a synergy with other centres and ensuring that their work extends to all zones of the country to tackle such problems as desert encroachment.
“Molecular biology is important in understanding the characteristics of plants and animals and to develop a data base that can serve as a basis for genetic improvement of these plants and animals in terms of disease resistance, ability to withstand stress and so on, ” Prof. Solomon stated.
For the centre to be able to adequately ensure genetic resources conservation, Dr Olanrewaju Denton, an expert in genetics from the Babcock University, Ilisan, declared that its programme should adequately cover the national genetic resources and cater for the needs of every Nigerian.
While emphasizing that other sectors such as the seed sector should be made to participate in its genetic resources programme and that conservation of the nation’s genetic resources be equally be done both in situ and ex situ, Dr. Denton said it must be made to be more national relevant for it to attract political and financial support.
Prof. Yusuf Abubakar, Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, speaking on the need for more networking with relevant institutions to improve and sustain genetic resources conservation, said this is important because it forms the basis for any effective collaboration required to increase food security and to reduce poverty.
Speaking through Mr. Yarama Ndirpaya, Prof Abubakar said conserving the nation’s plants and animals resources ensures that people continue to have access to them in order to produce adequate harvests, which is a fundamental step in lifting hungry people onto the first rung of the development ladder.
However to ensure proper genetic resources conservation and utilisation, Prof. Ola Ariyo from the Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Technology University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, said, many different areas of specialisations are required to work together as a system to produce an effect.
“Although it appears, the collection is built around genetics, nearly every sphere of Science and Technology is involved in effective conservation and utilization of genetic resources,” he said.
Similarly, Prof. Galman Omitogun of the Dept of Animal Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said that for Nigeria to remain relevant in the global production of meat, it must check the erosion of the natural animal genes that it would use for improving health and performance of different livestock breeds.
The biotechnology expert, said that aside redirecting research funds from industrial production to sustainable breeding, the government should abolish subsidies for industrial livestock production, address trade liberalisation issues that accounts for breed loss and internalize the hidden costs of industrialised livestock production.
However, despite the many achievements of the center, a tour of the committee to assess the facilities on ground, found many of its infrastructures obsolete at its departments such as the short-term seed storage and the cooling system at the gene bank that was working below standard.
The one day meeting is however expected to among other things consider the Acts which established the Centre with the view of streamlining it with the realities of the day, draw up projects, programme, and proposal achievable for it both in the long and short run, and critically look at the facilities available at the centre on how they could be improved upon them, hence making the centre achieve its mandate.
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