Business News
Traditional crops key to food security
A plate of matoke (bananas) spinach and rice served in a restaurant in Nairobi. Kenya can take advantage of traditional crops known to be drought resistant to fill the yawning food gap instead of relying on maize which is heavily dependent on adequate rain for good harvests. Photo/FILE
Posted Saturday, August 15 2009 at 22:30
In Summary
- Cassava, millet among those that can fill yawning gap
Dr Deborah Bryceson, an economic geographer at the University of Glasgow, says that the ‘upgrading’ of urban diets with ‘preferred’ cereals, as opposed to local grains and root crops, greatly increases dependence on imported food, which has to be purchased with African nations’ scarce foreign exchange.
Mr Nyameino said traditional crops were key to fighting food shortage, citing cassava’s popularity in Nigeria.
“Nigeria has no problem with drought because they plant and eat cassava which resists drought,” he said.
In Nigeria, the largest producer of cassava in the world with over 33 million tonnes, the crop is gradually being transformed from a famine-reserve commodity and rural staple food to a cash crop for urban consumption.
Mr Nyameino said the government should further support processing of traditional crops to win the taste buds of the youth.
“I don’t want to eat sorghum as it is but may be it should be mixed with wheat to make bread,” he said.
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