Press release- FG unveils strategy to tackle nutrition, boost economy- Lokpobiri

                  

The FG has reiterated its readiness to ensure a safe food for all and sundry in Nigeria including the unborn babies and their mothers while pregnant. This commitment was made by the Minister of State, Federal Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri during a high level Round table on Scaling up food system intervention for nutrition through public-private partnership in Abuja.

This was statement was made in a press release issued by Deputy Director. (Information), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Mrs. A.B Lere-Adams and made available to Food farm News.

 

According to the release, the Minister said that nutrition was not about just feeding people; it’s about nurturing growth of Nigerians, communities and entire nation. “The food value chain starts from the farm and the farmer and ends up at the table of every livelihood. Nutrition for us in Agriculture is a most crucial issue to address, since the food of infants, children, youths, the elderly, the sick, the healthy, the rich the poor, the educated and the uneducated eat determine their cognitive development which in turn measures the level of our productivity and of course the economic growth.”

The press statement attributed to a Global Pane Director, Prof. Sandy Thomas as saying that “nutrition is a new global priority reflected in the United Nation- designated Decade of Action on Nutrition” adding that “ the fore sight report of the global panel on agriculture and food systems for nutrition shows the scale of crisis and that more than three billion people around the world, Nigeria inclusive, are currently affected by malnutrition as a direct impact of low quality diets - results in diseases such as obesity, overweight, underweight, the end result is Type -2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain form of cancer”

                           

Also, it was stated that the Deputy Governor of Kano state, Prof. Abubakar Hafiz suggested that “there should be as a matter of urgency, a synergy and effective collaboration among all relevant tiers of government from Federal, state and local governments including the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure that sustainable agriculture is built on the right commodity value chain system.