Food Security in Nigeria: Is Biotechnology the Panacea? III

Food Security in Nigeria: Is Biotechnology the Panacea? III

Biotechnology is creating waves in Nigerian agriculture despite challenges, obstacles and lackadaisical attitudes of the research funding arms of government. Going by the available records, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is the leading organization in biotechnological breakthrough in respect of agriculture. However, IAR is not alone in this domain. Information available at the website of National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) shows impressive efforts made by some of the research institutes across the nation. NACGRAB, a research and biotechnology archive centre  was established in 1987 by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMS&T).  The centre is mandated to conduct research, gather data and disseminate technological information on matters relating to genetic resources conservation, utilization and biotechnology applications. The Centre, located in Moor plantation Ibadan, backed by Decree 33 of 1987 is charged with the regulation of periodic varietal releases of seeds, livestock and fisheries to industries for commercial production. Thus, the centre was established to serve   diverse biological heritage endowed to the nation, which needs to be maintained for the purpose of utilization and for posterity. The mission of NCGRAB is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of the rich biodiversity through Research and Development view to enhancing agricultural, economic and social development. The mandate of the centre is to  explore, collect, identify, evaluate, characterize, store and conserve the rich stock of both animal and plant germplasm materials. Similarly, the centre is expected to acquire, maintain, utilize, exchange and disseminate information on genetic materials of plants, animals and microbes to the relevant stakeholders for the benefit of the nation. The biotech unit at NACGRAB was established in 1999 to handle issues relating to research and development of genetic resources. The unit complements the conservation mandate of the Centre using the simple biotechnology tools such as tissue Culture technology for the in vitro conservation, technique of regeneration and multiplication of both agronomic and tree crop species, molecular biology technique for characterization and evaluation of plant genetic resources in the country, among others.  In recent years, the biotech unit of NACGRAB has achieved many successes and few of such recorded achievements are:

• Yam improvement for Incomes and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
• NACGRAB/UNILAG/NABDA – environmental protection (desertification control, soil erosion control and bioremediation).
• NACGRAB/UNILAG DNA bar-coding and molecular characterization of medicinal plants at the Gashaka-gumpti national park
• NACGRAB/FUMAN – collaboration on the supply of pineapple seedlings

In the last twenty years, National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) have developed over a thousand improved varieties of agricultural commodities for the five agricultural ecological zones. Some of such varieties were certified and released by NACGRAB. In this regard,  the centre, being the custodian of biotechnology products has dully certified and releases 586 varieties of many agricultural commodities for commercialization and sales to public. Among these varieties are 46 cassava improved varieties code named NICASS 1 to 31 and UMACASS 33 to 43. These varieties were developed by the combined efforts of International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and National Roots Crops Research Institute, (NRCRI) Umudike, Abia State. The unique characteristics of these improved cassava verities are early maturing, high yielding, suitable for gari and fufu, tolerance to drought (leaf retention in dry season), High starch yield, high dry matter, erect plant type suitable for intercropping and dense population in plantations, high quality cassava flour due to low fibre content with potential yields ranging from 40 tons per hectare to 53 tons per hectare compared to the local varieties with maximum yield of less than 10  tons per hectare. Soybean is another commodity featuring predominantly in the seed catalogue of  NACGRAB. 23 varieties of soybean were developed by the combined efforts of  IITA, Ibadan, National Cereal Research Institute Badegi, Niger State, Institute for Agricultural Research and Training (IAR and T), Ibadan. The unique features of the soybean are Medium maturing, high promi-scuous nodulation, high % nitrogen derived from atmosphere, high fodder yield and resistant to lodging, cercospora leaf spot and bacterial pustule with potential yields ranging from 1.5 tons per hectare to 2 tons per hectare. Additionally, there is a variety of Soybean code named "NCRISOY 1" which was released in 2014 with unique characteristics of being extra early maturity, promiscuous nodulation, resistant to rust, cercospora leaf spot and bacteria pustule with yield potential of 2.5 tons per hectare. The traditional soybean yields less than one ton in a hectare.

Rice is one of the most important agricultural commodities with global attention. It is used for the preparation of many local and intercontinental dishes and it is one commodity that one out of every three houses eats on daily basis. Nigeria spends billions of Naira annually to import rice into the country. rice consumption was reported to increase at a rate of 5% per year between 1961 and 2006. In my article of 2nd September, 2015, I quoted the  total demand for rice as about 5 million Metric tons per year out of which about 3.2 million Metric tons were produced locally (ATA Document). Over the years, the national rice production has not kept pace with the national consumption, thereby widening domestic rice deficit, which has to be met through massive importation of processed rice. Nigeria is reported to be among the largest rice importers in the world. The 2011 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report showed that Nigeria is the world's second largest importer of rice  worth N356 billion. Banning of rice importation has never been successful due to porous borders and compromising security personnel. Solve rice problem in Nigeria, more than half of Nigerian foods problems are solved. This is how important rice is to Nigerian food security. From 1991 to 2015, 71 rice improved varieties were developed and released into the country. These varieties include FARO 1 to 62, FUNAABOR-1 and 2, UPIA 1, 2, and 3, FARO 63, 64  and 65. The improved varieties are  of different sizes; short. medium and long grain types with potential yields ranging from 2.5 per hectare to 4.5 per hectare compared to about 1.5 tons per hectare of local varieties. The rice varieties were developed for swampy areas, forest zones, Northern and Southern Guinea Savanna, Sudan Savanna, Sahel Savanna and practically for every location in Nigeria.

There are many other improved varieties of all the strategic agricultural commodities government has been promoting in recent years. Maize is an excellent example in this case. There are 139 varieties of improved maize for short, medium and long maturity periods, example of SAMAZ 47, which is early maturity, high grain yield, tolerance to drought, Striga hermonthica and can perform in low soil nitrogen with yield potential of 10.3 tons per hectare. Millet, cowpea, groundnut, etc are among the crops varieties released over the years. Industrial crops were not left behind. Rubber, an industrial crop was among the varietal releases. 14 improved varieties of rubber were certified and released for public use. For instance, a rubber crop variety, code named "NIG 805" developed by Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) was released and the variety is found to be high yielding with potential yields from 2.3 to 2.8 tons per hectare per year compared to obtainable yield of local varieties from a mere 0.3 to 0.4 ton per hectare per year. Sugarcane is another example of industrial crop with many improved cultivars. From 1990 to 2010, there were 19 improved varieties of sugarcane released for public use. These  varieties are resistant to smut and other diseases. Vigorous tillering and ratooing habit with non hairy leaves, Good ratooning ability, medium to high tillering, good canopy formation, Smut resistance, good juice quality and high cane yield of an average of 105 t/ha. It is apparent that this column cannot exhaust all the available information on the agricultural products of biotechnology developed here in Nigeria. Suffice to say that Nigeria is on the path of achieving self sufficiency in food production through this God given technique - biotechnology. However, there are many fears - hiccups  associated with the products of biotechnology; some of these fears constitute serious impediment to the use and acceptability of such products especially genetically modified organisms popularly called GMO. What are the fears?  and how far can  we use biotechnology to produce foods and how safe are these foods? ( To be concluded next week)