Prof. Sami Ayodele, a mushroom plant scientist advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to create an opportunity for farmers to embrace mushroom cultivation to serve as a means of farming and income generation for the country.
Ayodele made this known in Abuja on 20th April while delivering a lecture at the 22nd inaugural lecture of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Tittled: “Mushrooms:Friends or Foes.”
Sami noted it’s important for the government to educate citizens on the benefits of mushroom cultivation for wealth generation and poverty elimination.
He said: “It is imperative for the government to commence elaborate sensitization of citizens about mushroom cultivation for wealth creation and poverty alleviation since it has a lot to contribute to the economy of the nation.
A Professor of Botan, Ayodele, from the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, NOUN, says the country could earn as much as one trillion naira annually if the sector could be properly developed.
Ayodele, affirms that the mushroom sub-sector and its value chain could provide 30 million skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled jobs for the unemployed Nigerians( including the youth and women especially those in rural areas).
He used China as a case study saying, “in China, it was estimated that the export value of mushrooms was about $1.6 billion and the total employment in the mushroom industry was over 30 million people.
“The global demand for mushrooms has continued to increase significantly according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report, while the market for mushrooms is huge and growing exponentially.
“The world mushroom market as at the end of 2020 stood at about $45.3 billion with China producing the highest.
While it’s only Zimbabwe, Algeria, South Africa, Madagascar,Tunisia, and Morocco grow mushrooms on a large scale in Africa. And Nigeria, the giant of Africa, does not feature in African mushroom production scale, not to talk about world production scale, says Ayodele.
He noted that care must be taken to ensure poisonous species of mushroom were not mistaken for edible ones when collecting them.
Ayodele, advised the Nigerian government to establish a national mushroom germplasm centre where documentation of all available edible and medicinal mushrooms in different regions of the country would be housed.
Noting that, “The pharmaceutical industries in Nigeria should exploit the medicinal potential of the bio-diversities of medicinal mushrooms in Nigeria for medicinal formulation,” he said.
Additionally, Prof. Olufemi Peters, the Vice-chancellor of NOUN, while applauded Ayodele for his vision and lecture promised to establish a laboratory in the institution for mushroom research.
Peters urge Ayodele to organize a research group for mushroom to enable him get support NOUN.
However, he advised the government, especially the incoming administration, not to allow the research to end up as an academic exercise.
The Vice chancellor wished Ayodele success in his career and pledged to be waiting for some proposals from him and his teams.