Prof. Christian Anieke, the Vice Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, raised the alarm on Saturday that the institution had discovered adulterated yam flour products in the Nigerian market.
Anieke, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, stated this during the 4th Convocation of the institution.
He said that the institution had a massive project of DNA analysis and sequencing of tropical fishes, plants and yam species in the community led by Prof. George Ude.
He said, “For the first time, a lot of unknown fish types in our community have been identified, analysed and entered in the DNA world data bank.
“This is one service we have rendered to place our country on the world map of fruitful research results.
“The sequencing of various yam species has helped us in separating the sheep from the goat by discovering a lot of adulterated yam flour products with the DNA sequencing tools.”
The vice chancellor said the institution wished to partner relevant government agencies and factories in the project to achieve good standard in food production.
He said, “If we really want to achieve good standard in food production and make agriculture a big foreign exchange earner, we must address the issue of fake products.
“Our institution is ready to work with our government agencies in the analysis of farm products to ensure their sanctity and harmlessness.”
Anieke pledged that the institution would leverage on its partnership with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture to produce new cassava species with better yields.
He said, “We have continued to develop our palm tree for palm oil production and we plan to increase the number of our palm trees to 15,000 trees.
“With this increase, we hope to meet partly the demand for palm oil in our state.
“We, therefore, plead with the state government to give us wings to fly by doing the road that leads to our main campus at Ugwuomu Nike as this will hasten the development of the university farms.”
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