NAN-AE-6
Preservation
By Okon Okon
Abuja, Dec. 22, 2016 (NAN) The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) says Nigerian farmers can produce concentrate for the juice industry in the country by drying fruits and vegetables.
Mr Michael Omodara, Senior Research Officer of the institute, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, preservation can reduce post-harvest losses of all crops grown and consumed in the country.
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“Our activities centre on developing technologies that can reduce post harvest losses in the major crops in Nigeria or fish, livestock, grains, fruits and vegetables and others.
“You will discover that a lot of time people in the juice industries import concentrates from other countries.
“What we are trying to do is, if you have clots of fruits like paw-paw, pineapple, like mango, instead of throwing them away or allowing them to rot, you can dry them.
“Then after drying, because from the dried materials you can produce your concentrates from which you can turn back to juice, and use them for other things.
“We have process through which you can develop tomato puree, tomato paste and we can also develop ketchup.”
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Omodara explained that Nigeria produces nearly 1.8 million tonnes of tomatoes per year, but over 50 per cent of them are lost to poor storage, transportation and lack of processing enterprises.
He, therefore, advised government to put adequate machineries in strategic places where perishable food items were produced to preserve them from decay.
The researcher emphasised that it is important to develop strategies for the development of value chain for all crops in Nigeria.
NAN reports that NSPRI carries out research into bulk storage problems of export commodities and food crops and in particular to conduct research into improvement of the quality of food crops in Nigeria.
The institute is also mandated to provide advice, training of farmers on problems associated with stored products and materials used to produce other foodstuffs for food security and value chain system. (NAN)
MZM/OSA/YEE
Edited by Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
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