Nigeria Losing Out of N300bn Food Cold Chain Industry -OTACCWA President
Despite the government’s renewed focus on agriculture, the President of the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA), Alexander Isong, has disclosed that Nigeria is losing out of the over N300 billion food cold chain industry.
Isong made this disclosure alongside the Managing Director, Fair-Trade Messe, Paul Maerz, during a briefing on the forthcoming agro-food and packaging materials exhibition in Nigeria.
The President underscored that preservation, transportation, and storage go hand-in-hand with agri-food and packaging, especially in an environment like Nigeria with large post-harvest losses.
He observed that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, has seen its food production increase in recent years, but not at the same pace as its population.
According to him, for Nigeria to leapfrog to the fourth industrial revolution in agriculture and ensure it feeds its rapidly growing population, there must be a proliferation of new technologies across the value chain to drive production and reduce food loss and waste.
Meanwhile, speaking on the agri-food and packaging exhibition, Maerz noted that exhibitors would come from different countries across the globe, adding that it would be centred on agri-food, covering agriculture, food processing and ingredients, among others.
He said, “The exhibition will feature the latest machines and technologies to improve high-quality products in the country, also, industrialization, which will lead to the creation of more jobs.”
source Agro Nigeria
