Let’s commercialise research outputs for revenue generation…Environment Minister advocates
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, is advocating for commercialisation of research outputs of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
According to him, commercialising these researches would serve as internal generated source of funding for these research institutions.
“So commercialisation is good, we are not commercialising the research institutions, we are seeking to commercialise the output of their researches,” he said.
The Minister advocated this when he paid a working visit to the CSIR yesterday in Accra.
Visiting the Food Research Institute, he recommended government through the ‘School Feeding Programme’ to supply some food items of the institute to help them generate funds.
He stated that, even though CSIR was developing and processing a lot of things that can generate revenue and also reduce the imports, it lacked support.
Having about 13 institutions under the CSIR, the Minister said the council needed the government’s support to develop its areas of specialisation including food, water, agriculture, crops, and animal research.
“Every year, we spend over $3 billion to import rice and poultry products into the country, even though in 2016, it was only $500 million, this is also putting pressure on our currency, so if we invest into CSIR in what they are doing, we will be able to cut down on importation of these food items,” he underscored.
“We are also engaging with some consultants to see how we can get international funding for the various agencies to help these institutions to operate to their full capacity and achieve their goals,” he disclosed.
Mr Muhammed urged the institutions to submit all the contractual arrangements with private entities with regard to their lands and redevelopment of its bungalows.
This, he said would help him understand the reasons CSIR entered into agreements with those entities, adding that he would have meetings with management to come up with lasting solutions.
The Director-General of CSIR, Prof. Paul Bosu, said CSIR had produced a number of rice varieties over the years and they would continue to produce to help reduce rice importation in the country.
He stated that CSIR contributed to the expansion and growth of Ghana’s food processing sector, reducing postharvest losses and promoting the delivery of safe and nutritious food to consumers.
However, he disclosed that rapid rate of encroachment and loss of vital research fields, inability to acquire lands outside of urban centres for research fields, lack of modern laboratories, workshops, training facilities, conference facilities and lack of logistic vehicles, computers, laptops, basic office hardware and government guarantees to secure facilities for investments and developments were hindering their works.
“Some of the challenges the CSIR face are low research funds from government and donor partners, inadequate consultancy/ contract research jobs from government and private industries, inadequate and old food processing and laboratory equipment and high electricity bills,” he noted.
BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA
