Biotech society wants FG to adequately fund biotech, biosafety agencies
Prof Sylvia Uzochukwu, President of Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN) has called on the Federal Government to provide adequate funding for biotechnology and biosafety agencies in Nigeria.
Uzochukwu made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.
She said that funding the agencies adequately would enable them deliver on their mandates without depending on donor agencies.
Speaking on trending issues on biotechnology, she disclosed that by 2050, the population of the world would reach about 10 billion.
She said this implied that there would be extra two billion people to feed.
”It has been calculated by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that this will require a 60 per cent increase in food production.’’
”The United Nations has also projected that by the same 2050, scarcity of water, land and energy will lead to a global food shortage,” she said.
The Professor of Food Science and Biotechnology expressed optimism that biotechnology could tackle the challenge.
According to her, biotechnology, the core of which is genetic engineering is already helping to solve problems in food security, health and environment. It saved the world from COVID-19.
Uzochukwu added that China had recently increased the protein content of her corn by gene editing to reduce her dependence on imported soy from America for livestock and poultry feed.
She noted that India had also produced by gene editing, rice that yields 30 per cent more.
”The intention is to free land for cultivation of pulses, and oil seeds to improve nutrition and reduce import dependency.
”Thus, biotechnology is not just providing food security and revolutionalising healthcare, it is charting the course of international trade and diplomacy.
”Any country that ignores modern biotechnology does so at its own peril, Nigeria has embraced it with open arms, thank God,’’ she said.
The BSN President further said that challenges of population growth and climate change would continue to require bioengineering of plants to improve attributes like drought resistance at a much larger scale.
She revealed that TELA maize was approved for commercialisation in Nigeria in 2024, and that it was bioengineered for drought and insect resistance.
She also said that Bt cowpea, Bt maize and Bt cotton, had been approved earlier and were all genetically engineered to resist insect pests.
