By Sylvester Thompson
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) report says that the population of Nigeria is expected to continue to grow up to 239 million by 2025 and 440 million by 2050.
This places Nigeria at the fourth position among countries with high population.
However, as the country’s population skyrockets, food demand becomes increases. At the current food production rate, Nigeria is unable to feed itself.
The challenge before the country is how to reach equilibrium between food production and food demand.
How will this be achieved? History has tells us that no nation becomes great without developing its agriculture.
Nigeria’s agriculture is not highly developed. Various factors pose challenges to the sector ranging from inaccessible or expensive inputs, increasing post-harvest losses due to poor logistics and insecurity.
The FAO in Nigeria also identified factors such as poor land tenure system, low level of irrigation farming, low technology, climate change and land degradation among others.
Over the years, the Nigeria Government tried to boost agriculture in an attempt to diversify the economy from crude oil sales, increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ensure food sufficiency.
Several agricultural initiatives, policies and programmes were pronounced by successive governments.
Some of these policies include; Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP), Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme and Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative.
Others are; the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP), and the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Plan (NATIP) which was expected to replace the Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) that was launched in 2016 but terminated in December 2020.
President Bola Tinubu on July 9, 2024, inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Implementation of Livestock Reforms to address obstacles in agricultural productivity and open up new frontiers to benefit farmers.
The 10-day nationwide hunger protest embarked upon by Nigerians was a testament to the shortfall in food production, a development compounded by double digit inflation.
It is now clear that any system where food demand is not matched by supply danger is looming.
Many people in the agriculture belt are equally caught up in the food crisis in the nation. Indeed, the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report ranked Nigeria 109th out of 125 countries.
“With a score of 28.3 in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria has a level of hunger that is serious,’’ the GHI said in the report.
The International Trade Administration in its last published date of June 5, 2023 recorded that Nigeria relied on $10 billion of imports to meet its food and agricultural production shortfalls.
What this proves is that the decline in agriculture to GDP compounds the food inflation woes currently facing Nigeria.
It is glaring that Nigeria may not be able to meet the food demand of its growing population, with the situation worsened by climate change and disease outbreaks.
Experts say by embracing agriculture biotechnology, Nigeria has the potential to become a food secured nation.
The technique involves exploring knowledge of the functional genomics of species and organisms, by incorporating specific DNA sequences coding for desirable traits into crops of interest.’’
Genomics is a field of biology focused on studying all the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of an organism, simply known as genome.
They say another technique among others that Nigeria can deploy to achieve food consumption stability is genome editing, which is also an aspect of biotechnology currently experiencing growth.
Scientists argue that a major feature of the technique of genome editing in agriculture is the ability to alter a plant’s genome without incorporating a foreign DNA into it.
These experts have confirmed that genome editing is resistant to pests and disease stress, allowing plants to thrive without pesticides.
They say agricultural biotechnology which can be used to improve existing crop varieties, for tolerance or resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses, crucial for increasing crop production.
Nigeria’s agricultural production needs to be enhanced with modern and effective technology, and agricultural biotechnology offers this opportunity.
Nigerian experts and scientists in the area include Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, Director General of the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), Dr Rose Gidado, Director, Agricultural Biotechnology Department of the NBRDA.
They argue that it would difficult for Nigeria to achieve food security without embracing agriculture biotech.
Gidado, Director, Agricultural biotechnology at NBRDA said the technology was herbicide tolerant.
According to her it allows farmers to benefit from more effective weed control, adding that it could increase plant tolerance to heat, floods, salinity, droughts and extreme cold for a wide variety of crops.
Experts have maintained that the application of genome editing in crop improvement is favoured for its cost effectiveness, ease of use and possibility of speeding up the development of some crop varieties.
Prof. Charles Adetunji, Director of Research and Innovation, Edo State University Uzairue, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that genome editing was capable of meeting Nigeria’s demand for sustainable food production.
He said the technology also ensured increased crop yields while protecting the environment and adapting to climate change.
He said the technology was good for both the environment and humans.
Nigeria was the first country to make the move to amend its biosafety legislation to include regulation of genome edited products.
Thereafter, the guidelines for regulating genome edited products were spelt out adopted in 2020.
Nigerian Biotechnology researchers affirm that it is a necessary tool for enhancing crop yield and in ensuring food security in the country.
They further say because it is well regulated by National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) its outcome is safe for consumption.
Speaking on GMOs, Professor Garba Sharubutu said there was nothing to worry about.
“GMOs represent a crucial advancement in the field of biotechnology, offering a myriad of benefits that span across agriculture, food security, health, industry, and the environment.
“These genetically modified organisms have the potential to revolutionise our approach to addressing pressing global challenges such as food scarcity, malnutrition, and environmental sustainability’, said Sharubutu Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria.
The Federal Government has also underlined the need for those in the agriculture sector to embrace biotechnology in their activities.
Mr Ishaq Salako, Minister of State for Environment, says the adoption of biotechnology is critical to attaining food security, job creation, and poverty eradication in Nigeria.
“Biotechnology has a lot to offer to drive agriculture output, environmental protection and healthcare services’’, the media recently quoted him as saying. (NANFeatures)
