FG To Mainstream Nutrition Into Agriculture

Echono inspecting the stand of Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Ondo State during the fair

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced plans to build nutrition into its mainstream agricultural activities, using bio-fortification, home fortification and large and medium scale fortification in a value chain approach.

This was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Arc. Sonny Echono, at the International  Nutritious Food Fair which took place at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Station, Kubwa, Abuja, where he represented the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

The Permanent Secretary stated that the present Administration views bio-fortification as complementary to dietary enrichment and has therefore embraced a broad and comprehensive food systems approach to address malnutrition.

He said, “We easily visualize how food fortification fits into broader agribusiness model to make nutritious food available, accessible and affordable to enable us provide diverse foods and make more foods more nutritious”.

Echono further explained that after a full decade of promoting large scale fortification, it should equally be of importance to optimize industry compliance to expected food fortification standards. According to him, the bio fortified crops currently promoted   include the Vitamin A rich cassava and orange flesh sweet potatoes.

He said Nigeria’s agricultural sector’s vision is to achieve a hunger-free country through an agricultural sector that drives an all inclusive income growth, accelerates achievement  of food and nutritional security, generates employment and transforms Nigeria into a leading player in global food markets to grow wealth for millions of farmers.

To achieve this, he said the government has embarked on a comprehensive review and resuscitation plan that revolves around unlocking the potentials of agriculture through a total value chain to enable the private sector leadership grow food, create jobs and wealth, as well as improve nutrition.

According to him, malnutrition, especially inadequate mineral and vitamins to women and children, posed a major challenge to the health of citizens, saying available statistics have revealed that 30% of our children and 20% of pregnant women are malnourished; a situation he said was not acceptable.

He therefore emphasized the need to develop and multiply more production nutrient rich crops and scale up bio-fortification research through research institutes like IITA and Nutritional Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI).