Perishable Export: NEPC Recommends Dehydration For Preservation

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has recommended dehydration as a means of preserving perishable export products.

Executive director of the NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak, made the recommendation at a seminar on dehydration best practices of agricultural products for exports, organised by the Agency, in Owerri, lmo state.

Yakusak, represented by NEPC’S Trade Promotion Advisor in the state,  Anthony Ajuruchi, noted that this is necessary as food security remained a major global challenge.

He said that according to a recent report by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, food production would need to grow by 70 per cent, so as to feed the world population which would reach nine billion by year 2050.

He decried the post harvest losses orchestrated by difficulty in preservation of perishables and called for urgent interventions  to salvage the situation.

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“Post harvest loss, a result of degradation in both quantity and quality of agricultural products, poses a major challenge.

“To minimise this loss, we have tested and confirmed that among the many means of preserving perishable export products, dehydration is the best, hence this workshop”, he said.

Speaking on the theme: “Enhancing the Quality of Agricultural Produce for Premium Export Value”, Dr. Fidelis Ehirim, of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Imo State University, harped  on dehydration as a better alternative to refrigeration.