Stakeholders call for national food systems transformation

Stakeholders in the Agriculture sector of the economy have called for total transformation of the National Food Systems to prevent hunger and arrest incidence of poverty in Nigeria.

The call which was made at the 2nd International Conference recently hosted by the Faculty of Agriculture, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike, Ebonyi State, with the theme: “Transforming National Food Systems to Prevent Hunger” as part of their Food Security and Hidden Hunger series.

The Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr. Kenton Daschiell in a keynote speech noted that it was possible to achieve zero hunger in Nigeria if the right systems were put in place.

Daschiell added that zero Hunger would be attained in Nigeria when farmers grow what they eat and eat what they grow.

He further revealed that series of meetings have been held by the Zero Hunger Forum championed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Benue, Borno and Ebonyi states, adding that these interactions have led to increased results in food production and extensive agricultural produce.

Dr. Daschiell also stated that Nigeria has done well in achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals by providing nutritional food that reduces infant mortality among primary school pupils,

bio-control products containing beneficial fungi that reduce afflation concentrations in groundnut and maize by 99% compared to untreated crops and increased growth opportunity for cassava products in the food sector.

He further acknowledged that Nigeria has an enormous potential for industrialization through cassava processing.

He however pointed out that some of the major bottlenecks that Nigerians were encountering in food production to include high production cost due to low yield, leading to lack of global competitiveness and lack of good road network and new technologies.

And stated that for agricultural sector to close the yield-gap in produce they must involve new technologies and increase cassava competitiveness to fight hidden hunger in Nigeria.

Earlier while declaring the conference open, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba expressed satisfaction on the academic trajectory being charted by the Faculty of Agriculture of the University, adding that they have made the institution proud by being practical-oriented in the delivery of their academic brief and thereby enhancing food production.

He stressed that transforming national food system demands SMART policy making and programme formulation which was the reason for the annual conference on Food Security and Hidden Hunger in the University.

He advised the Government to think-out-of-the-box in order to identify new ways the country should go so that it would not be stocked in the 17th century policy model.

Prof. Nwajiuba assured that students of the University would be trained to be productive, employable and employers of labour in the Agricultural sector, particularly now that there is a global effort to build a resilient and sustainable food systems for securing a healthy future for everyone.