Okolie Nwabueze, director of the Centre for Technology Marketing and Product Development at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), says commercialising food research is crucial to industrialisation, job creation, exports, and financial sustainability.
He made this recognized throughout NIFST’s twelfth Regional Food Science and Technology (REFoST) technical paper presentation on Tuesday in Lagos.
Mr Nwabueze stated innovation achieved little worth when research findings remained confined to laboratories, educational journals and institutional libraries with out reaching customers and industries.
According to him, research outputs have to be remodeled into merchandise, applied sciences and providers succesful of creating wealth, fixing societal challenges and driving industrial growth.
“Research is only meaningful when it leaves the laboratory and gets to the market, where people can benefit from it. If research remains on the shelf, its economic value is lost,” he stated.
The expertise advertising and marketing professional recognized insufficient infrastructure, weak innovation ecosystems, poor funding, and insecurity as main challenges that restrict the commercialisation of food research in Nigeria.
According to him, insecurity continues to have an effect on agricultural manufacturing, disrupt provide chains and limit entry to uncooked supplies required for food processing.
Speaking on export alternatives, Mr Nwabueze stated worldwide requirements usually are not limitations when producers adjust to established high quality, security and regulatory necessities.
“We should not see global standards as obstacles. The real challenge is building the capacity and infrastructure required to consistently meet those standards,” he stated.
Also talking, the chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Lagos Chapter, Kikelomo Amoreoluwa, stated the summit was designed to bridge the hole between research establishments and industry.
She famous that many progressive research outputs by no means progressed past educational environments regardless of possessing vital industrial and industrial growth potential.
Ms Amoreoluwa stated one of the highlights of the summit was a three-minute thesis competitors involving final-year college students of Yaba College of Technology.
She stated the scholars offered research initiatives on plant-based meat alternate options produced from soya beans and mushrooms utilizing wheat gluten as a binder.
She stated one other presentation centered on optimisation and high quality analysis of composite flour produced from orange-fleshed candy potato and okra for practical food functions.
Ms Amoreoluwa famous that the third presentation examined the impact of pre-treatment strategies on the dietary and bioactive content material of African spinach and Jatropha tanjorensis, often known as ‘hospital too far leaf’, as practical elements in bread-making.
According to her, the scholars’ shows demonstrated the big alternatives accessible for remodeling educational research into commercially viable food merchandise.
“We want research outputs to move beyond libraries and laboratories into products that are packaged, labelled, marketable and globally competitive,” she stated.
She recognized insufficient funding, restricted processing amenities and regulatory bottlenecks as main constraints confronting food innovators and rising entrepreneurs.
The NIFST chairman advocated establishing innovation hubs and shared processing centres to assist product growth and regulatory compliance.
She added that elevated authorities assist would allow extra innovators to scale their merchandise and acquire crucial certifications for market entry.
Beatrice Oganah-Ikujenyo, chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the NIFST Lagos Chapter, stated food research remained crucial to addressing food insecurity and hidden starvation challenges.
She defined that innovation might rework underutilised crops and indigenous food sources into nutritious merchandise that enchantment to fashionable customers.
According to her, research shouldn’t stay inside educational establishments however ought to contribute instantly to bettering vitamin, public well being and financial outcomes.
“Research efforts become truly impactful when they are translated into products and solutions that improve lives, strengthen food security and support economic development,” she stated.
Ms Oganah-Ikujenyo stated growing a wider vary of food merchandise would enhance dietary range whereas creating extra enterprise alternatives throughout agricultural worth chains.
She additional famous that food innovation provided sensible options for enhancing food availability, lowering losses and strengthening nationwide food methods.
(NAN)
