FOOD PRODUCTION: Processing, Preservation and Packaging – an untapped gold mine! - Matthew E. Ujah-Peter

 Portions in the Holy writs had once and again amazed me in their depths as they address matters such as the one under consideration. One such line goes thus:

‘’The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of the diligent man is precious’’ – Prov. 12:27 (KJV). Again, ‘’The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.’’ – Eccl. 10:15 (KJV).

How or why would the Holy Book call a hunter slothful (or lazy)? In Africa, hunters are supposed to be the strongest and the hardest (or most hard working) set of people. Yet, there is something that makes a hunter ‘’lazy’’, according to the Book of God: ‘’they do not roast (i.e., process) what they took in hunting.’’

You surely must have seen those brave hunters who stood along the high ways that are nearer to rural communities with the dead animals they took in hunting trying to sell them? In the earlier part of the day, say in the morning, they can afford to call high price for their merchandise. If they don’t sell it quickly before sunset, they are bound to sell it below its real price by sundown. Why? Well, since they do not process or ‘’roast’’ it, it will lose its value by the next day. It will rot. Many people in some of our towns and cities go to the market in the evening to buy meat because meats are cheaper and sold at give-away price at such times, because they typical sellers has no means of preserving it till the next day.

In like fashion our farm produce are losing their real values and wasting. Because we don’t ”roast our games” and we “know not the way to the city.” City life is a fast-paced one and most things must be in their ready-made or ready-to-use forms else they lose their real values. This is ‘’the way to the city.’’ Since modern business or commerce life is mostly city-based, every modern ‘’hunter’’ traders, businessman and entrepreneur must know the ways of the city; know his ways to the city and know his way in the city. What is not processed and preserved and properly packaged can be under-priced in the city. That is the simple truth. The seller will sell out of fear that it will spoil in his hands if not sold out quickly.

This is how foreigners are coming and buying our produce at painfully low prices, take them to their countries, processed, preserved and packaged them and then turn around to sell them at more than double their real prices to us with the label ‘’Made in Italy.’’

Look in the Good Book again. A man called Jacob preserved enough animals in the backyard to dash off to in the time of great demands. He had something to ‘’trade’’ with when the need arose. Esau, his twin brother and a hunter, roasted not all the games he had taken in hunting. He preserved none but killed them all. In this part of the world, it is time to learn the art of preserving what God has given to us in abundance.

My focus here is not even domestic or small scale food preservation system alone. I am also talking about large scale commercial food production, preservation, packaging and marketing and even exportation. Every harvest season there were more than abundance of produce to not only last all year round but for export into other nations. We should by now, as a nation, be exploring this opportunity in the food industry

And more importantly, production goes beyond extraction. Production must not just be at extractive or primary level that our economy is known for. It must go beyond that to that of secondary level which is manufacturing – conversion of extracted raw materials to useful items. This is known as value addition. Then there is tertiary level of production, which is service or provision of utility. Processing, preservation and packaging are three ways by which secondary and tertiary productions - value addition and provision of utility can take place.

Food production, processing, preservation and packaging is used here as examples. There are other commodities that this applies to. The challenge is for us to rise above just selling our resources just the way they come from our soils. Let us embrace value addition – secondary and tertiary production – which is where and how industrialization happens. When secondary form of production is embraced and vigorously pursued, especially with focus on production for exportation, factories spring up, jobs are created, internal revenues are generated, foreign exchange are made, the economy grow and the country develops. The result is stronger GDP, solid per capita income and healthy living standard for the people.

I believe this is simple enough..