By Peter Uwumarogie
Dr Joseph Kaltungo, a Gombe-based Agronomist, said poor and inadequate storage
warehouses and facilities in rural communities were threatening food security efforts of government at all levels.
Joseph, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Tuesday, said “food sufficiency
cannot be achieved without proper investment in storage warehouses and facilities.”
He said that if the country must make progress in the agriculture sector, there had to be good infrastructure that would help
to prevent post-harvest losses.
He added that “the lack of proper storage facilities remains a major challenge in food security efforts by stakeholders.
“Today, I can tell you that many farmers produce more than what they could consume and because they have no storage
facilities, the bulk of the produce get wasted or infested.
“A huge percentage of food produced in Nigeria perish before they get to a consumer, and the lack of proper storage is a key driver of these losses.
“The absence of storage infrastructure has forced farmers to sell their produce immediately after harvest when supply is high and prices are at their lowest.
“This is why some middlemen take advantage to buy off produce from farmers and hoard them, only to sell when prices shoot up.
“This makes farmers lose income, while reducing their chances of getting good returns on investments, thereby having little funds to meet their household
needs.”
According to him, some farmers attempt to store their harvest in their homes, but are unable to preserve the quality of the commodities with such measures.
He stated that because farmers lacked access to adequate storage measures to prevent the degradation of their produce, the commodities get wasted.
On what should be done, Kaltungo said government and development organisations needed to build more community warehouses.
He said “there is need to build warehouses in rural communities to prevent post-harvest losses.”
He advised farmers to seek knowledge from extension officers on how best to preserve their produce by fumigating silos and warehouses
against insects and rodents.(NAN)