Abuja — Prof. Bamidele Solomon, Director-General of National Bio-technology Development Agency (NABDA), said yesterday that biotechnology had the potential to address poverty and food security in developing countries.

Solomon, yesterday, at a media interactive forum in Abuja said the agency was poised to deploy biotechnology solutions, to achieve collective aspirations for food security, poverty eradication, thriving small and medium-sized enterprises.

He said bio-technology which referred to combination of techniques to modify products for benefit of mankind, provided an excellent tool to increase food security in the nation.

He said the system was making impact in the areas of agriculture, health care, industries and environmental sectors, to make Nigeria a key global participant in the biotechnology revolution.

He said the agency had established a Bio-resources Development Centre in Odi, Bayelsa where more than 500 unemployed youths were trained.

The Director-General noted that the youths were trained in the areas of aquaculture, grasscutter domestication and management technology, snail domestication and other bio-enterprises.

Solomon said NABDA had assisted most of the trainees to set up medium scale bio- enterprises to enable them become self-employed.

He said that the agency had embarked on grassroot awareness workshop, to bring to public the potentials of bio-technology in improving non-food uses of crops as veritable sources of industrial feed.

Solomon said that participants were drawn from governmental institutions, the academia, media, NGOs and farmers.

He said that the workshop had contributed to the emergence of thriving bio-enterprises.

"It is imperative for us to articulate a strategic media plan that would further promote awareness of the gains of biotechnology and increase medium-scale bio-enterprises.

He commended the media for contributing to the growth and development of the country, saying, "The Nigerian media is the most virile in Africa, a key driver of economic and socio-political development.

"Over the years, it has proved to be an effective bridge builder, integrating different facets of society for the evolution of an egalitarian nation."