A group of experts led by Professor Kenneth Anchang Yangadi, fellow of the African Institute for Public Health, has described phytobiotechology as the cheapest and safest means of mitigating global climate change, food insecurity and mental health challenges.
At a three-day first international conference and workshop on “Phytobiotechology Applications in Climate Change Mitigation”, the chairman of the International Society for Phytobiotechnology and Public Health said phytobiotechnology involves using green materials from the environment without modifying them through genetic engineering.
He said the goal is to understand plants better, unlock their potential, and package them in a way that is effective without interfering with their natural existence.
“Today’s event is, exploiting phytobiotechnology to address climate change impact, climate change problems globally.
To a layman, this is a technology where you exploit available green materials from your environment.
“You understand these green materials, you understand the uses of these green materials, you bring them together without changing the nature of the plants at all. You are not modifying anything like what is opposed to genetic engineering. You are not changing any compound or transforming it in a way that is not agreeable with nature or with its natural existence. That is phytobiotechnology,” he said.
Kenneth emphasised that everyone depends on plants for food, medicine, clothing and Nigeria has an abundance of medicinal plants that are not being maximized.
He believes that scientists need to properly understand and package plant medicine so that it meets global standards without isolating compounds like synthetic medicine does.
“I’m sure there’s no one on earth who doesn’t use plants either as food, either as medicine, clothes, or what have you. So, we all depend on plants. And phyto, the word phyto, that prefix means what? Plants, right? So the benefit of this technology now is that we now have knowledge of how to package this plant, how to pick out, bring out the potential that are hidden in the plant that we are not seeing, and how to put it in such a way that it can give us the best result.
“To do this, we need to bring in science to understand these plants better, proof that they are efficacious, and at the same time, see not just end at that level of saying they are efficacious, but how do we package them together? That’s the dichotomy. That’s where scientists are cut off. They don’t understand how to do packaging of plants in a way that are effective and at the same time not interfering with its natural existence,” he said.
Other stakeholders at the event include, the state chairman of the Farmers Association of Nigeria, Enugu State, Mr Romanus Anayo who expressed gratitude to the organisers and said it serves as an eye-opener on using modern technologies in agriculture.
On his part, Prof I.D Choji said, “There is a need for us to revert to and include nature study in our school curricula from primary school. We need to propagate our indigenous food which are healthier and encourage consumption of indigenous food through advocacy and publicity.”
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