Saraki salutes Nigerian who invented cocoa pod breaking machine

Senate President Bukola Saraki has commended Mr. Olusegun Arowolo, a 66-year-old Germany-based Nigerian engineer, for inventing a cocoa pod breaking machine that can break 30,000 cocoa pods in one hour, the first ever in the world.
 
Senate President Bukola Saraki 
Saraki who gave the commendation last week in Abuja at the public demonstration of the machine known as Gideon Cocoa Pod Breaking Machine challenged the Nigerian youth to embrace technology and deploy the skills to promote commercial agriculture in the country.

The Senate President, who was represented by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, noted that the Federal Government is committed to the revival of the economy through the non-oil sector, particularly through agriculture.

He said agricultural mechanisation would encourage the youth to participate in crop growing, as it would reduce the stress and drudgery associated with current methods of farming, adding that technological innovations in agriculture would enhance agricultural productivity, which would consequently lift the nation out of economic recession and provide jobs for the youth.

He challenged local manufacturers to venture into the manufacturing of farm equipment, saying that tangible efforts should be made to increase the availability of state-of-the-art agricultural equipment in the country.

Also speaking, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, underscored the need to develop and fabricate modern technologies in Nigeria, which was one of the largest economies in Africa and world in general.

He said Nigeria, which has abundant human and material resources, is also blessed with a huge population of young people who should be passionate in efforts to drive the economy through agricultural development.

Lokpobiri said the innovation was in line with the Federal Government’s plans to revolutionise cocoa production, with the aim of restoring Nigeria’s position as a leader in global cocoa production. He said the long and arduous process of breaking cocoa pods manually by farmers had been identified as a serious obstacle facing efforts to increase cocoa production for local consumption and exports. The minister said that the cocoa pod breaking machine would substantially remove the drudgery associated with cocoa farming.

The inventor, Arowolo, explained that the machine was conceptualised to boost cocoa production on a large scale for industrial uses. He said the machine would also provide work opportunities for the unemployed in cocoa plantations, thereby stemming rural-urban migration of the people.“It is reported that as at 2016, Nigeria annual cocoa production rate is 192,000 tonnes.

“The use of the machine by cocoa farmers will boost the efforts of farmers to increase production, while it will also boost government’s efforts to revolutionise cocoa production,’’ he said. Arowolo said the machine is readily available in the country.


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