To address malnutrition and food insecurity in the country, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other stakeholders have organized a workshop on the implementation of project “Nourishing Nigeria”
The project is a technical cooperation programme aimed at reviewing Agriculture Sector Food and Nutrition Strategy, ASFSNS, to ensure it aligns with current National and International standards.
Speaking at the workshop for Project “Nourishing Nigeria” in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, said that the initiative will establish Junior Farmer Field and Business Schools to empower young farmers at the sub-national level with technical skills and entrepreneurial capacity.
Represented by the Director, Agriculture Lands and Climate Change Management Services, Mr. Oshadiya Olanipeku, the Permanent Secretary said that it will also develop a Policy and Legal Framework to address malnutrition and food insecurity through effective governance and strategic interventions.
Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi revealed that Nutrition-Sensitive agriculture is pivotal for combating stunting, wasting, and underweight by fostering awareness of healthy diets, improving value chains for nutritious foods, and promoting enabling diverse food production at household levels.
In a statement by Obe M. Mabel, Principal Information Officer, on behalf of the Director Information, he said “the efforts will align with Nigeria’s food systems transformation agenda which seeks to boost dietary diversity and sustainable food security, targeting significant reduction in malnutrition”.
The Permanent Secretary stressed the need to acknowledge the fact that Nigeria is faced by a dual burden of malnutrition, undernutrition and over nutrition with significant public health implications.
He pointed out that approximately, 79% of Nigerian households experience food insecurity, leading to negative coping mechanisms such as reduced meal sizes and reliance on cheaper, less nutritious foods.
The Permanent Secretary added “this situation exacerbates malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, with anemia affecting 30.5% of young children, 20.3% of adolescent girls, 23.3% of women of reproductive age, and 31.5% of pregnant women”,
He also revealed that in line with the global call of actions, the Ministry is promoting homestead gardening which gives nutrition inputs packs to the vulnerable households to improve access to micro-nutrients through the consumption of bio fortified crops, fruits and vegetables produced at the homestead.
Speaking earlier, the Director, Food and Nutrition Safety, Nuhu Adamu Kilishi emphasized the need for a multifaceted approach that will bring together stakeholders from agriculture, health, and other sectors as the country still grapples with high level of malnutrition.
In his address, the Chairman House Committee on Food and Nutrition, Hon. John Chike Okafor, said that the initiative is timely and aligns with the core mandate of the committee which is to provide a very robust legislative support to the executive arms of government to fight against malnutrition and food insecurity.
In his presentation, the FAO Country Representative, Dominique Koffy Kouacou, who was represented by the Programme Officer, Tofiq Braimag stated that the organization in collaboration with the Ministry and the House Committee on Food and Nutrition is launching, the technical cooperation programme “Nourishing Nigeria”, an initiative that Seeks to confront the challenges of malnutrition and food insecurity in the country by paring nutrition sensitive approaches into agricultural planning, implementation and policy.
In attendance were representatives of UNICEF, World Food Programme, State Commissioners of Agriculture, and Permanent Secretaries, among other development partners.