By Fortune Abang

Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), on Thursday inaugurated the “Nourish Nigeria” project to bolster food security in Nigeria.

Ogunbiyi, represented by Mr Olanipekun Oshadiya, Director, Agricultural Land and Climate Change Management Services of the ministry, disclosed this in Abuja at a one-day workshop.

The workshop, which centred on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture in Nigeria, was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the (FMAFS) and the House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security.

The workshop also centred on the inauguration of the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) titled: “Nourishing Nigeria: Integrating Nutrition-Sensitive Approaches for the Implementation of the Agriculture Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy (AFSNS)”.

“​Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is pivotal for combating stunting, wasting and low weight by fostering awareness of healthy diets, improving value chains for nutritious foods and enabling diverse food production at household levels.

“These efforts, which align with Nigeria’s food systems transformation agenda, seek to boost dietary diversity and sustainable food security, targeting significant reduction in malnutrition.

“Let us work together to ensure Nigeria takes her rightful place in the comity of nations. This is a complex and multifaceted challenge, but we are committed to achieving our goals,” he said.

Also speaking, Koffy Kouacou, FAO Representative ad interim in Nigeria and ECOWAS, described the workshop as apt, as it was coming at a time when Nigeria faced crisis in food security and nutrition.

Kouacou, represented by Tofiq Braimah, Operations Officer at FAO, observed that some families adopted negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals, reducing portion sizes, or relied on less nutritious alternatives to cope with the challenges.

“It is against this backdrop that FAO, in collaboration with FMAFS and the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, is launching the Nourishing Nigeria Technical Cooperation Programme.

“This initiative seeks to confront these challenges head-on, by embedding nutrition-sensitive approaches into agricultural planning, implementation and policy,” Kouacou said.

Dr Chike Okafor, Chairman, House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security at the National Assembly, stressed the need for expansion of the project, to advance policy implementation across the country.

Okafor said, “We cannot effectively nourish Nigeria without creating and strengthening the required Policy and Legal Frameworks. This is the premise on which the legal, policy, research and documentation consultants will work.

“By so doing, we can make laws abolishing multiple taxation of food products in transit from one part of Nigeria to another.

“Laws to prohibit certain cultural practices that hinder the girl child or adolescent optimal nutrition or extended breastfeeding, should be looked into and policies re-appraised to understand why they are poorly implemented.”

Meanwhile, Mr Nuhu Kilishi, Director, Nutrition and Food Security Department of the ministry, described the project as a collective dedication to incorporate nutrition-sensitive approaches into the agriculture sector food security and nutrition strategy.

“Our goal is to create an enabling environment that supports the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices.

“This requires a fundamental shift in how we design and implement our agricultural policies and programmes,” Kilishi, also the National Project Coordinator of Nourish Nigeria, said.

The pilot project, designed for Lagos, Ogun, Niger and Bauchi States, seeks to promote awareness among stakeholders of the objectives and potential risks to ensure effective coordination and implementation. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chinyere Nwachukwu/Christiana Fadare