$100,000 PRIZE FOR FOOD SECTOR INNOVATORS

The Nigeria Prize for Science 2022 has been won by Local innovations on ensuring food security in the country.

The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) created the award as a liquefied natural gas (LNG)-producing company and a liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny Island, Rivers State.

The prize for science is for scientists the world over, who find answers to “Nigerian” problems, is how it has been advertised by the advisory board.

The winners were announced by Professor Barth Nnaji (engineer, former Minister of Power, one of the E-Design concept inventors) at a press conference in Lagos, stating that the two most outstanding works on “Gains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cultivators under Drought and Well-Watered Conditions” by Muhydideen Oyekunle and Shehu Ado, and “Development of Process Plant for Plantain Flour” by Sesan Peter Ayodeji and Emmanuel Olatunji Olatomilola. They won the $100,000 between them.

The winners were a Maize Breeder and lecturer at the Institute for Agricultural Research at Ahmadu Bello University and his colleague, Prof. Shehu Garki Ado, an agricultural expert and professor of Genetics and Plant Breeding, is also currently the vice chancellor of Al-Qalam University, Katsina.

The other winners were Sesan Peter Ayodeji is a professor of Machine & Process Design and Applied Ergonomics at the Federal University of Technology, Akure and his colleague is Emmanuel Olatunji Olatomilola.

“At the global level, Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seeks sustainable solutions to end hunger in all its forms by 2030 and to achieve food security. This entails improving the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers by promoting equal access to land, technology and markets, resilient agricultural practices and sustainable food production systems,” Nnaji stated that the works address the need for food security which is on Nigeria’s National agenda. He said the judges decision reflects a lot of the 2022 theme.

“The maize seeds they selected courtesy of breeding programme have been tested to be high yielding and water stress tolerant. The hybrids they selected record yields of 1.73-2.51 t/ha in stress areas and 5-6 t/ha in areas with good rainfall distribution in farmers’ fields,” Nnaji thinks the work by Muhyideen Oyekunle and Shehu Ado’s on “Gains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cultivars under Drought and Well Watered Conditions” provides the country with opportunity.

Nnaji said Susan Peter Ayodeji and Emmanuel Olatunji Olatomilola’s work on “Development of Process Plant for Plantain Flour” will help for reducing spoilage and the distribution of the packaging of farm products.

Source: The Guardian, September 2022