From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A university don, Prof Terkimbi Vange, has disclosed that despite increased food production in the past decades, over 800 million people are still chronically hungry globally.
Vange, a professor of Plant Breeding and Biometrics at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM) in Benue State, stated this while presenting his inaugural lecture titled “Plant Breeding: Exploring Plant Variability for Sustainable Food Security”.
The Dean College of Agronomy, while lamenting that access to food is currently the greatest obstacle, expressed concern over the future challenge of a growing world population which is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050.
‘Although food production has increased in the past decades, over 800 million people are still hungry. Access to food is currently the greatest obstacle. The future challenge is a growing world population, which is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050.
‘In terms of food availability, the global food production will need to rise by about 60 per cent need to be done in a sustainable way,’ he said.
He noted that the onus now rests on plant breeders to provide solutions since according to him, plant breeding had become increasingly relevant in an agrarian society like Nigeria to ensure food security.
Vange also stressed the need to ensure that newer and more productive varieties of food crops are available for cultivation in relevant target ecologies.
‘There is no doubt that achieving these objectives requires commitments from government and the private sector in funding plant breeding activities which include qualitative training programmes for especially emerging plant breeders,’ he added.
While commending the government for signing into law the Plant Variety Protection Act, 2021, Vange however, harped on the need for the government to match its words with action by ensuring implementation of the law so that the derivable benefits would not elude Nigerians.