As Nigeria observes World Food Day, the nation grapples with the enduring challenge of ensuring food security and improving nutritional status, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable groups: children, women, and the elderly. Despite a history of various food security programs and policies, including the renowned Operation Feeds the Nation, the country still faces significant food insecurity, with over 58% of its population lacking access to sufficient food.
The foundation of Nigeria’s food and nutrition policy rests on five crucial pillars, each playing a unique role in addressing the multifaceted issue of food security:
i. Availability: Ensuring an adequate supply of food resources.
ii. Access: Making sure all citizens can physically and economically acquire the food they need.
iii. Utilization: Maximizing the health benefits of the available food resources.
iv. Stability: Guaranteeing consistency in the supply and access to food.
v. Sustainability: Preserving the ability to meet future food needs without depleting resources.
At its core, food security revolves around the ability of an individual to access a sufficient amount of healthy food daily, both in physical and economic terms. This leads us to ponder whether Nigeria has truly achieved its national food security and nutrition objectives.
Several strategies are essential for Nigeria to enhance food security:
i. Reducing food wastage: Efficiently managing and conserving food resources.
ii. Improving infrastructure: Enhancing transportation, storage, and distribution of food.
iii. Diversification: Expanding the range of food sources and agricultural practices.
iv. Embracing technological changes: Leveraging innovation to boost agricultural productivity.
v. Combating climate change: Adapting to the challenges posed by a changing climate and mitigating its impacts on agriculture.
In summary, the road to food security in Nigeria involves enhancing food security, optimizing irrigation efficiency, and increasing crop-water productivity. This can be achieved through social participation, technical training, research and development promotion, governance intensification, and public-sector management. These elements are crucial for Nigeria’s future prosperity.
We call upon governments at all levels to take the necessary steps to improve the standard of living for Nigerians. This can be achieved by initiating and implementing sustainable policies that enhance food and nutrition security, ultimately leading to socio-economic development for the country.
Tijjani Saraki wrote this piece from Kano
