BIODEGRADATION OF AGRO INDUSTRIAL BY PRODUCTS AS A PANACEA TO FEED SCARCITY IN NIGERIA AMIDST FARMER INSECURITY AND GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Abstract

The prices of most conventional feed ingredients are currently on the high side due to the soaring and competitive demand among humans, industries and animals, farmer/herder crisis, armed banditry and lockdown occasioned by the global pandemic (Covid-19). Biodegradation techniques such as enzymatic supplementation, solid state fermentation with fungi or microbial fermentation have been used to enhance the feed value of poor quality non-conventional ingredients used in livestock feed formulation. Biodegradation of agro industrial wastes and the utilisation of the biodegraded wastes as ingredients in livestock feeding will go a long way in making animal products available and affordable, and thus improve the dwindling animal protein intake among the populace. This review examines the prevalence of feed insecurity, its effects on socioeconomic development in Nigeria and solution to the problem. The research adopts qualitative approach to analysis which relied on secondary sources like journals, textbooks, newspapers and online publications. It is concluded that biodegradation of copiously available agro industrial by products could proffer a solution to the problem of animal feed scarcity/insecurity, which directly enhances (boosts) animal production. The review recommends that governments at all levels work together with universities, agricultural
research institutes and ministries of agriculture to designate extension workers to train local farmers on biodegradation of agro wastes in these perilous times.