Food Processing As A Hub of National Food Security: An R and D Track in Extrusion Cooking and Other Techniques for Handling Tropical Crops for Food Use:- Madueblblsi Ofo lwe

ABSTRACT

Nigeria ranks fifty fifth worldwide and first in Africa in farm output. Agriculture has suffered from years of mismanagement. inconsistent and poorly conceived government policies and the lack of basic infrastructure and necessary support. Still. the sector accounts for over 26.8% of GOP and two-thirds of employment. Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of agricultural produce. Import constraints lithit the availability of many agricultural and food processing inputs. The agricultural sector has extremely low productivity. deriving from reliance on antiquated methods. Although overall agricultural production rose by 28 percent during the 1990s, per capita output rose by only 8.5 percent during the same decade. Agriculture has failed to keep pace with Nigeria's rapid population growth, so that the country. which once exported food, now relies on imports to sustain itself.