Maximizing the economic and nutritional potentials of Nigerian Fruits

The gap that exists between several impact-making research findings and their implementation by government policy makers has contributed to Africa, nay Nigeria’s slow economic development. Too often, less than one percent of the national budget goes to funding researchers and such are disbursed with an unexpected delay. Related data collation is few and far between. The gross lack of streamlining of such findings, in addition to inadequate information gathering on the effects of their value chain on the people’s economic growth redefines poor quality service delivery. Mere lip service is therefore, paid to sustainable human capital development and employment generation using small and medium scale enterprises.

Worse still, is the persisting criminal neglect of the rural populace by governments at the state and even local council levels. It is against this dark backdrop that one review the profound findings as made public during 17th World Food Congress, held at thePalais des Congess, Montreal Canada back in 2014.It was organized by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST). The global body which represents over 300,000 food scientists and technologists remain the only elected one to the International Council of Science.

The event with the theme: Research that Resonates brought globally-respected erudite minds on food security together had in attendance the likes of Prof. Charles Aworh(Nigeria),Prof. Agnes Budu(Ghana) and Dr. Rangaro Ambati (Malaysia).Others included Emeritus Prof.Malcom Bourne(USA),Dr. Balwinder Sooch(USA) and Ngozi Odu(Nigera). Many others came from Canada, Kenya, Portugal, Singapore and Germany.

With the focus on the neglected and dwindling utilization of many fruits and vegetable grown in the rural areas, an alarm was raised on their lack of conservation for future use. Specifically, Prof. Aworh of the Department of Food Technology, University of Ibadan who is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (FIAFoST) highlighted the immense contributions of lesser known fruits and vegetables to food security, nutrition, and small farmers’ daily income.

In his paper, he listed fruits in this category found in Nigeria’s rural areas such as African star apple(agbalumo), hog plum(iyeye),black plum(ucha koro), African wild mango(oro) and native pear(ube). Vegetables such as bitter leaf (ewuro), amaranth (tete), water leaf (gbure), ugwu, ewedu, kuka, rimi, kwandon zogale and sokoyokoto were also listed. Also, there were researches conducted on value-added processing of some of these lesser-known indigenous Nigerian fruits including agbalumo, yeye, ucha koro for the production of fruit juices and beverages suitable for small and medium scale enterprises.

Said he: “These crops thrive with little care and without the use of costly agricultural inputs such s fertilizers herbicides and pesticides.(Yet) they provide valuable nutrients, especially vitamins and minerals that are vital for good health and wellness”. They are abundant sources of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), Folic acid (from green, leafy vegetables), provitamin A, carotenoids, phyto chemicals with bio active nutraceuticals including antioxidant pigments known as flavonoids. Indeed, many of them have protective attributes against cancer, high blood pressure, viral infections, and diabetes.

These local fruits and vegetables, according to him, compare favorably with their temperate counterparts such as cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, and celery. But his concern is that these listed nutritional benefits are not known to the local populace and even neglected by the urban dwellers whose lifestyles include the increased intake of diets rich in fat, meat, sugar, salt with low intake of useful fibre.

Related to this were a study on the glycemic index and glycemic load of local diets consumed in parts of northern Nigeria including Kano metropolis which revealed a link between diet and increase in diabetes.

Another source of worry was the high rate of deforestation between 1990 and 2008 with Nigeria accounting for 41 per cent as one of the highest in the world. As at 2014 it was about 320,000-350,000 ha per annum. Such combined with over grazing and drought could lead to desertification and of course, food insecurity.

The questions raised by these research findings are many: How far are the local populace aware of the rich sources of food they eat, so as not to jettison them for fast, fatty, fried foods once they relocate to the cities? What efforts have the various governments in the south made to stem the tide of deforestation? How far are the governments in the north combating the increasing scourge of desertification?

There are more. For instance, what could be done to grow these nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables in larger quantities? How can the value-added production of fruit juices and beverages be standardized and encouraged to be in commercial quantities to upgrade their nutrition and economic status? Is there any template in place to link the local entrepreneurs with the banking sector? Is there any linkage between town and gown?

The answers to these pertinent questions have become necessary so that Nigerians, both at the rural and urban areas benefit maximally from what they have in their ‘shokoto’ instead of going too far away Sokoto in search of a pipe dream.

All said, there should be a stakeholders meeting to be mid-wife by the federal and state ministries of agriculture, labour, and industry, science, and technology with the organized private sector in attendance. They should harmonize these findings and unleash their nutritional and economic potentials for the benefits of Nigerians.