Lecturer pleads for more resources for enzyme research

Kumasi, Dec 18, GNA - A scientist of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has urged government to put more resources into "enzyme research", an area of bio-technology she says holds enormous promise for the nation.

Prof Victoria Pearl Dzogbefia of the Bio-Chemistry Department said industrial application of enzymes derived from plants and animals had become an important area emerging economies are exploiting to create wealth and reduce poverty.

This could be employed to add value to agro-waste, which is in abundance in the country to produce animal feed. Additionally, fruit producers could use this to raise the quality of their products as well as the textile industry. Prof Dzobgefia was delivering a lecture on "Silent and invisible factory-workers - creators of wealth for smart nations" at the KNUST in Kumasi.

It was meant to provide public access to research findings by scientists and technologists of the university that are relevant to industry and economic development. She said industrial application of enzyme globally rose to $3 billion dollars in 2008 from about $200 million in the 1960's and is projected to hit $6 billion by 2011.

This has mainly been due to its usefulness in the pharmaceutical industry and production of bio-ethanol from agriculture biomass. Prof Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, the Vice- Chancellor, said he had no doubt that such lectures would go a long way to aid the nation's socio-economic development.

He drew attention to the need for policy-makers to take science and technology issues seriously since these are the key to unlocking Ghana's development potentials.