FG to apply genetic engineering, biotechnology for food security

The federal government on Tuesday said it intends to apply genetic engineering and biotechnology in efforts aimed at ensuring food security in the country.

Ogbonnaya Onu, minister of science and technology, disclosed this while declaring open a training workshop on :”Living Modified Organisms Detection and Identification”, which was organised by the National Biotechnology Development Agency in Abuja.

Onu said the federal government also plan to harness genetic engineering and biotechnology to improve food safety in the country.

The federal government has recognised the immense importance of genetic engineering and biotechnology to national development, the minister noted.

According to him, effective application of genetic engineering and biotechnology will boost local production of food, and as a result, minimise the need for continuous import.

“The federal ministry of science and technology will continue to support the National Biotechnology Development Agency in carrying out this very important mandate to help our country not only in the area of agriculture, but also in protecting our environment and in ensuring that the desire of our nation to industrialise rapidly is achieved,” Onu added.

Alex Akpa, acting director-general of the National Biotechnology Development Agency, said Nigeria had adopted biotechnology and genetic engineering to improve crops and animal production in the country.
Akpa explained that Nigeria has made significant investments in modern biotechnology, adding that the investments had yielded ‘remarkable success’.

Representative of the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Austein McLoughlin, said close cooperation with developing nations would be sustained in a bid to identify the importance of living modified organisms.