Increasing food security challenges and environmental degradation aggravating poverty and crises in the Third World countries have been described as consequences of reckless human actions. A professor of Agricultural and Bio-Systems Engineering at the University of Ilorin, Joshua Olanrewju Olaoye, disclosed this while delivering an inaugural lecture of the university recently. Prof. Olaoye insisted that the reason hunger is on the rise at global level, particularly in under-developed countries, is negligible interest paid to the issue of food security through improved and sustainable implementation of agricultural technology practices. He, therefore, suggested that specific actions should be taken towards the adequate protection of the environment, which, he said, is a joint responsibility of every citizen.While warning that the more the environment is exposed to depletion, the more food production would be threatened, he enjoined stakeholders to develop proper legislations, programmes and monitoring procedures to protect the environment. Prof. Olaoye urged the government to work towards empowering farmers with modern implements that could assist in large-scale production of food for local consumption and export, saying that the nation has the land, the human resources and a market size that could make it a truly food basket.

Source: The Guardian December 30, 2019 03:00 UTC