CRIN Director Canvasses More Funds for  Agricultural Research to Tackle Food Insecurity 

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan 

The Executive Director, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Dr. Patrick Adebola, has called on the federal government and other tiers of government to dedicate more funds for research, especially in agriculture, to address the challenges of food security and others.

This was just as he charged youths in the country to go into agriculture most especially cultivation of Cocoa, among other cash crops, stating that Cocoa is in increasing demands globally.

He spoke during a media parley to mark the 60th anniversary of the Institute, slated for Monday, as well as the hosting of the 18th edition of the Research Institutes Games of Nigeria (RIGAN) by the Institute. 

He urged the National Assembly to consider voting more funds for agricultural research, noting that  if the agriculture sector is developed to international standard, the issues of unemployment, poverty, terrorism and other vices confronting the country would all subside automatically.

The CRIN boss maintained millions of people that are somehow idle and available for crime and other untoward activities would be engaged, insisting that challenges of Nigeria are not about the dearth of experts, but the fact that majority of them do not have the necessary funds to work with.

He similarly identified the problem of electricity as another major setback, lamenting that “in most of the research Institutes in Nigeria, most of the expert researchers oftentimes used their meagre personal resources to fund research sometimes. Our appeal is for the government to vote more funds for research on agriculture.”

He disclosed that the price of Cocoa has reached an all-time high of N15 million per tonne as against N1.8 million in January 2024, noting that the Institute has been able to develop eight varieties of cocoa that can flower and fruit in 18 months as compared to the usual seven years.

He added that, though, its price per ton has stabilised at N12 million currently, the product has become a hot cake being sought after by countries of the world, attributing the sharp increase in price to disease outbreak in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, the two leading producers of cocoa in the world.

Adebola stated further that the situation has led to about 40 per cent loss of the crop in the two countries.