Africa House has partnered with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Local Chambers across 36 states of the Federation in Nigeria to eradicate food shortage using modern food technologies such as the Hydroponics technology that involves growing food without soil.
The Global Director of Africa, Engineer Abayomi Onasanya mentioned that Africa as a continent should strive to become independent when it comes to food production; and one of the ways of achieving this is by equipping Nigerians with the skills required to set up such modern food systems. He mentioned that countries such as Sweden, Qatar and Japan are using such technologies to provide healthy food to their citizens in what they call urban agriculture.
The Africa House plans to hold several special online training sessions for a wide spectrum of Africans & Nigerians in the hydroponics technology. One of such training included the recently concluded trained with the topic: “Growing Food without Soil: An Introduction to Hydroponics”, that featured more than 100 members of the different chamber across the 36 states of the federation under the coordination of NACCIMA leadership.
According to the management of Africa House, such modern food technologies would be offered to the Nigerian /African youth as a form of youth empowerment scheme, and this in turn would open up job opportunities in a new industry currently worth over $8.1billion annually. The Africa House has trained over 1000 Africans cut across the whole continent of Africa till date via the internet, in the hydroponics technology and aims to expand even further.
Engineer Onasanya also emphasized that these type of strategic skill acquisition program would save Nigeria and Africa hundreds of millions of dollars in form of foreign exchange, because the trained youths can now implement various green house and hydroponics projects in Africa without the need to invite expatriate to execute those projects. He also said the timing of this is perfect because as the world faces food shortage due to the corona virus, the world requires a new way of food production that is not only sustainable but also capable of saving the planet’s water resources.
One must not forget that hydroponics technology in agriculture capable of saving up to 90% water as compared to traditional agriculture with about 5 times the yield. Engineer Onasanya also stressed the role of the leadership of NACCIMA president Hajiya Saratu Iya Aliyu, Ambassador Dr. Ayo Olukanni the DG of NACCIMA; and Dr Ahmed Raji, the Kwara Chamber President, in the success of this unprecedented partnership that would give Nigeria and Africa food independence.
It is important to note that all the Africa House training during this period of global pandemic are online based, while leveraging the benefits provided by internet technology in its ability to reach anyone across the continent at the comfort of their homes. Physical training would resume after the pandemic is declared over by the various governments across Africa.