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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Country Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Dr Michael Ojo, has given insight into why Nigeria is facing food security and malnutrition challenge.
Ojo stated this in Abuja during a press briefing to commemorate the World Food Day, with a focus on water. He said the country faces a significant food security and malnutrition challenge, which was in part due to its inability to produce enough food and nutritious food for its population.
The GAIN’s boss further said that a lot of the food Nigeria produces were either lost or wasted between the farm and the table.
He stated that the country’s ability to produce the right food or sufficient food or the challenge of getting food from farm to folk was driven by the negative impact of COVID-19, which led to the disruption of supply chain; significant impact of conflict within and outside the country, including climate change.
“So, what we see is that of all of these deficiencies are impacting on diet – what people are actually able to consume, what is available to them to eat because they can’t access the right kind of diet or because they can’t afford these foods, especially most vulnerable,” Ojo said.
Speaking on the theme for the 2023 World Food Day, Ojo said water is very critical to human existence, stressing that water is not infinite and unlimited, and that as the population increases, the pressure on water increases also.
According to him, the role of water was for life and livelihoods, even as he said there was the need to ensure that everyone had access to water.
He however called for a stronger coordination and synergy between water systems, food systems and climate systems so that the nation can end up with robust strategies so that the strategies can intentionally address the challenge faced by the vulnerable population in the society.
