Potentials of the Agro Industry towards Achieving Food Security in Nigeria and Other Sub-Saharan African Countries

O.A. Olaoye^1,

¹Department of Food Science and Technology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State

Cite this paper

O.A. Olaoye. Potentials of the Agro Industry towards Achieving Food Security in Nigeria and Other Sub-Saharan African Countries. Journal of Food Security. 2014; 2(1):33-41. doi: 10.12691/JFS-2-1-5

Abstract

The potentials of Agro Industry towards nation's development can not be over-emphasized in any country, especially developing countries like . is among the highest producers of many crops, which could be processed into value added products (VAPs) to enhance foreign earnings. Many advantages abound when effective policies are enacted and implemented in the agriculture sector towards realising potentials. However, policy formulations and implementation have remained a major problem in the development of their Agro food Industry in the sub-Saharan African countries, including . The required processing techniques to convert crops and tubers into VAPs are usually hampered because of non availability of necessary processing facilities, and when available the power required to run them is lacking or grossly insufficient. Many other challenges are encountered in most developing countries of , some of which have been identified in the current report. Summarily, Nigeria, and indeed sub-Saharan African countries, could benefit immensely from the potentials inherent in the Agro Food Industry towards achieving food security, if the challenges currently confronting the sector are tackled headlong and the policy formulations are proactively implemented.

Keywords

Agro Industry, value added products, processing techniques, sub-Saharan African countries, food security

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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