By George George Idowu
A professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Ilorin in Kwara State, Patricia Omojasola, has expressed concern over the country’s annual generation of 8.9 million tons of agrifood waste.
She disclosed this on Monday at the university’s 261st Inaugural Lecture titled “Micro-organism in the Service of Man.”
According to her, a substantial waste is produced from crop and animal processing each year.
She explained that agrifood waste includes both edible and inedible residual biogenic fractions of crops and animal products.
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In her words: “These wastes are often converted to animal feed, burned, or left to decompose, contributing to environmental pollution.”
Omojasola identified common wastes such as cassava peel, rice, sorghum, wheat bran, corn cobs, oil palm fruit empty bunches, and empty African mesquite pods.
She noted that globally, about 33.33 per cent of food produced is wasted, equating to a loss of 1.3 billion metric tons annually. This includes 30 per cent of cereals, 20 per cent of dairy products, 35 per cent of seafood and fish, 45 per cent of fruits and vegetables, and 20 per cent of meat.
Highlighting the potential of these wastes, Omojasola pointed out that their rich content of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and minerals makes them suitable for microbial biotransformation into value-added products like bioplastics, biofertilizers, food additives, antioxidants, antibiotics, organic acids, and enzymes.
She recommended that the metabolites produced from these wastes could be processed at waste sites using simple bioreactors, with the products then supplied to larger industries.
Omojasola used the opportunity to call for collaboration among stakeholders in the food industry, academia, and government to implement effective food preservation strategies.
