From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Tuesday, decried the debilitating effect of COVID-19 pandemic on all facets of human endeavors especially on food security.
He said this while declaring open, the 45th Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) which held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital.
The Governor who was represented by his deputy, Engr. Benson Abounu stated that the theme of this year’s conference, ‘Food Security and Sustainability in a Post COVID-19 Era,’ was very apt, especially going by the global impact of COVID-19 on all nations of the world.
Ortom maintained that in Benue, the COVID-19 era which is characterized by the violent activities of marauding herdsmen who destroy food crops and kill innocent citizens at will has further worsened the already bad situation.
‘There’s acute and chronic hunger in the land and COVID-19 impact has led to increasing food insecurity. Benue is certainly going to experience hunger because the farmers can no longer access their farms.
‘These peasant farmers are the bedrock of agriculture in Nigeria yet they have been displaced and some killed and those who are alive don’t have access to their farm lands anymore. As at today, over 1.5million people are displaced in the state. And the effect of this displacement is hunger.
‘What happens post COVID-19?
It sounds the alarm to begin the activation of the world food system. There is an urgent need to begin to think how we can begin to produce more food to meet the food needs of the populace, hence, the need for NISFT to go back to the drawing board,’ the Governor said.
Earlier in an address, the NISFT President, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe noted that food security and sustainability is imperative to feed the growing world population and minimize the effects of climate change.
He posited that the COVID-19 crisis had affected societies and economies around the globe and would permanently reshape the world as it continues to unfold.
While lamenting the negative toll of the pandemic including hunger, malnutrition, job losses, trade deficit and all manner of helical food related problems on humans, Prof. Iwe averred that the development had placed a serious responsibility on the Institute to rise to the occasion with a view to making serious and impressive input.
‘NISFT as a professional body, and in collaboration with sister professions has the capacity to make her contributions by ensuring that efforts are geared towards a sustained efforts in engineering and re-engineering food production, processing and preservation in Nigeria.’
The event also witnessed the investiture of some members as fellows of the Institute.