The Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), has reiterated its commitments towards the growth and development of the Nigerian food sector.
National President of NIFST, Prof. Joseph Oneh Abu, who disclosed this during a press conference ahead of the 47th Annual Conference of the NIFST, at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) Abia State recently, expressed optimism that through partnership with stakeholders, Nigerian food can successfully become a global brand.
He identified non-compliance with global food standards, poor packaging and poor adherence to food safety as part of the major reasons food exports from Nigeria are rejected at the International market.
He further decried poor funding of the sector as a major challenge to Nigeria’s food export quest, adding that despite efforts to break the jinx, Nigeria’s food export is yet to gain acceptability at the global market.
The scholar who further revealed that poor branding of foods by exporters affect their marketability and competitiveness at the global market, called for concerted efforts to explore the huge opportunity in the sector in order to dominate the global food export market.
Prof. Abu expressed the body’s readiness towards harnessing the abundance of talent, knowledge and skills among food professionals in Nigeria in order to enhance foods sufficiency and good nutrition of the masses.
According to the NIFST President, the value of global food industry would hit $10 Trillion by 2027 from its present $7 Trillion, urging stakeholders to take advantage of the projection for the growth and development of the sector.
He decried that Nigeria, imports more than three times, the value of its food exports, calling for a change in the trend.
The NIFST helmsman who also commended the Federal Government (FG) for establishing the Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology (NICFoST) to regulate the practice of food science in Nigeria, urged them to shun further delay in inaugurating the council.
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