Nigeria loses N198billion yearly to inefficient harnessing of horticulture

banana farmer

The just concluded 3rd All Africa Horticultural Congress (AAHC) has identified that most developing countries in the continent have not complied to using Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) to attract premium prices for fresh fruits and vegetables with Nigeria losing N198 billion on yearly basis to post harvest problems, just as scientists, researchers, farmers, policy makers, transporters and other input service providers from the rest of the world noted that GAP adoption cum efficient value chains and transportation institutions by most of these nations in Africa will galvanize fruits and vegetables availability to meeting the increasing population and rural-urban migration.

 The United Nation, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has predicted double population increase before 2050.

It will be recalled in 2012 training organized by National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) that the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had advocated for the use of GAP towards attracting 500 million dollar on daily export of fresh fruits and vegetable to Europe thereby raising income of small scale farmers and creating more job for school leavers.

Presently, Nigeria according to Prof O.C Aworh is losing N198 billion only on tomato yearly due to poor agronomic practices and postharvest challenges, pointed this amount alone can salvage about three states’ budget if only 20-35% of these losses are prevented with GAP and efficient linkage to the market as most of the fresh fruits and vegetables at Shoprite are imported due to better handling management.

Prof. Aworh lamented that forty years after the 1975 UN resolution on reduction of food wastages through postharvest handlings in developing countries, Nigeria has not complied like Philippine who has reduced this challenge with proactive steps, stressing the need for infrastructural development in Nigeria with full private sector participation.

The seasoned don who identified disconnect between the transportation system and food production in Nigeria unlike what is obtained during the colonial era thereby emphasized the need for cold parks for fresh produce preservation coupled the use of trucks like in the United States to move fruits in crates. In US 99% of all fresh fruits, vegetables and frozen products are moved by trucks but here the system of transportation damages produce.

Other stakeholders expressed the need to enhance the service end of horticultural production towards efficient movement of fresh produce in crates and creation of cold parks thereby commending the efforts towards checkmating losses through the bringing together of both the private and public sector under the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

The GAIN country Director, Dr. Francis Aminu has said that “as a leader in identifying and delivering solutions to address malnutrition, GAIN has developed the postharvest loss alliance for nutrition to bring together the multitude of public and private sector actors to addressing this issue towards collectively reducing losses and wasting of nutritional food”

Dr. Aminu added that “Nigeria is one of the ten countries with the highest burden of malnutrition in the world, and despite its highly productive horticulture sector, close to 50% of fresh fruit and vegetables are lost or wasted. Additionally, despite having the largest economy in Africa and robust and growing agricbusiness private sector, businesses still struggle with the limited availability of quality technological solutions to capture these losses. Nigerian government has set an agenda to reduce postharvest loss and waste through private sector partnerships, as well as further reducing the country’s malnutrition” 

An abstract book made for AAHC 2016 on urban and peri-urban horticulture in the developing countries stated that “the unabated migration of rural population to the urban area in the developing countries has challenged the traditional system of rural agricultural feeding the urban population. By 2030, the urban population is expected to be 60 percent. Whereas in 2070 it is expected to be 70. 

The teeming urban population has threatened food and nutrition security demanding priority remedial measures; hence, the emerging importance and significance of urban and peri urban agriculture. Presently, horticulture is recognized as a second line of defense with cereals and legume in the front line of food domain. It is further recognized that horticulture is the major contributor to nutrition security and assumes major role in urban and peri urban agriculture attaining its importance as urban and peri urban horticulture (UPA) as recognized by the FAO”

Speaking on the nutrition relevance of horticulture to our increasing population in Nigeria, Dr. Jide-Taiwo Lawrence, a director at NIHORT and head, subcommittee, AAHC exhibition, a subsidiary of the event said that horticultural crops are veritable source of vitamins that give micro nutrients in cheap and natural ways to about 160 million Nigerians saying the products being exhibited speak volume of things being discussed at the conference.