Monday, July 1, 2019

Nigeria, Morocco to tackle food insecurity with technology


Mohammed V1 Polytechnic University, Morocco is ready to partner Nigerian universities to address the growing challenge of food insecurity in Africa with over 232.5 million people reported suffering starvation and malnutrition across the continent.

According to him, the sidelines of the launch of impulse acceleration programme designed to scout for talented entrepreneurs in agritech, biotech, nanotech and mining tech, its Chief Communications Officer, Khalid Baddou, blamed lack of production improvements for food insecurity.

He said Africa needed to address the food production growth challenges of the 21st century with professionals.

To achieve higher productivity, Baddou said farmers should increase the adoption of productivity-enhancing measures, including fertiliser, and modern farm management practices.

He noted that the agriculture sector’s need to work through major structural value-chain and technology transformations to meet greater demands from population and economic growth.
He said the university wanted to work with Nigerian institutions and other researchers to reach African farmers with yield- boosting technology.

According to him, there was an urgent need to support African agriculture to adapt to climate change, stressing the need for stronger strategic alliance between the university and other partners to unleash the potential of agriculture as a business across Africa.

He said the university has developed capabilities to apply global-scale models of climate change and crop yields to regional, local and field-level concerns.

He said the university wants to serve as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting leading-edge research and bridging the gap between the laboratory and marketplace.

So far, the university is supporting students and entrepreneurs transform ideas into products and spinoff companies that have a transformational effect on the food systems across Africa.

He said one of the strengths of the university is innovative technologies and strategies to make the agriculture industry more productive, and attracted a score of professionals from all over the world.

He said the university is ready to work with Nigerian experts to explore risks and opportunities for the agriculture sector.

According to him, assessing the risks to and from the agriculture sector and identifying opportunities for the sector to thrive amid global change is both urgent and essential.

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