A group of firms with expertise in agriculture and technology have mapped out strategies to enhance food security in the country by helping farmers to access affordable biofertilizer, biofuel production to increase their productivity.
PyroGenesys , the lead partner in the consortium, wants to introduce the use of ‘Pyrochemy’ technology to improve food production in order to help diversify the sector and contribute to the agenda to reduce the massive hunger threatening the country due food scarcity as well as create jobs.
Other members of the consortium, which is made up of funders and partners include; Energy Catalyst; University of Leicester; Aston University; Hello Tractor; AtManCorp; African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF; Pyrogenesys Nigeria; and Mobinet.
The lead partner, co-founder, co-inventor, and CEO, PyroGenesys Limited, Simon Ighofose told reporters in conference in Abuja tagged ‘Pyropower Africa Stage 2 Building an African Value Chain for Biofuel production, Bioenergy generation and Biofertiliser production,” that it was centred around deploying the technology adding that the demonstration of the technology will ensure it works at a larger scale.
He added that when it is fully launched it will tackle post-harvest losses, mechanisation, process, biofertilizer production, biofuel production, climate-smart agriculture, rural development and industrialisation, job creation for youth and women, and boosting food production and security.
Ighofose said: “PyroGenesys has invented a technology which is patented. The technology is called
Pyrochemy. This technology can take any type of agricultural waste, heat it without oxygen, and break it down into two major parts.
“The first part is a vapour, which is a fuel. We burn that vapour to generate renewable electricity and renewable heat.
“The second part is a solid similar to charcoal, but it is a very special form of carbon. We upgraded it into a biofertilizer.
“We then supply that biofertilizer back to the farmers from whom we initially obtained the waste. This gives farmers a locally produced biofertilizer that can outperform imported inorganic NPK, which reduces soil fertility. Soil fertility needs carbon to become more fertile.
“When farmers use our biofertilizer, they enrich their soils. Moreover, because it contains a special type of carbon, it means that the carbon removed from the air by plants (converted into carbohydrates) is then converted by us into carbon.
“When farmers put this into the soil, it removes carbon from the environment for 100 million years. This process helps in the fight against climate change.
“At the last COP28 in Dubai, over $160 trillion was pledged for people who can help fight climate change.
“We hope that all those who pledged to invest in climate and carbon removal projects will consider what Nigerian farmers are doing with PyroChem technology and the PyroPower Africa consortium led by PyroGenesys.”
In a similar development one of the partners, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation AATF, expressed readiness to roll out a Mechanisation Hub Model, which will include Farmer Aggregation and bringing services closer to farmers and bundling of mechanisation services with Agro-inputs to strengthen Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs).
The senior manager, Policy, Agribusiness and Commercialization, AATF, and Interim MD-Agridrive Nigeria Ltd, Dr Daniel Kyalo Willy, said: “AATF brings two elements to the projects. One is the mobilisation of the farmers who are involved in the production of the cassava so after we mobilise the farmers, we train them on good agronomic practices because we want them also apart from supplying the biomass to also increase the yield of their tubers of Cassava so we train them.
“The second thing is, we are playing mechanism services to these farmers because they need to produce in less drudgery approaches. So we mechanise their production. So those two elements are the ones who bring to the project.”
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