*Dr. Michael Ojo, Country Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, highlights some factors causing malnutrition, advocating creation of access for female farmers to increase food production in Nigeria

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

The Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security has urged the Federal and state governments to deal decisively with gangs and bandits terrorising farmers across the country.

This is crucial as several farmers have been killed, while even higher numbers have abandoned their farmlands for fear of being attacked.

Hon. Chike Okafor, Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, made the call Wendnesday, July 8, 2025, during an interview with reporters on the sideline of the Day 2 event, of the 3-Day National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security.

The Committee organised the National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security with support from Development Partners on the theme, 鈥淐urbing Malnutrition and Food Insecurity Through Effective Synergies鈥�.

Okafor said that attacks on farms and farming communities over the years had seen formerly productive farmers fleeing their lands and abandoning food production.

The Federal lawmaker also observed that there is a linkage between abandoned farms, rising food costs, malnutrition and hunger.

He, therefore, urged the Federal and State Governments to prioritise the protection of famers and their cultivated land.

This, he noted, is to enable the displaced and dejected farmers as well as newcomers in the agricultural sector to return to farming.

Okafor further said: 鈥淩ight now, what government needs to focus on is the provision of security in the farmlands.

“What is making food look like it is scarce is the situation where farmers in the North-East, North-West, the North-Central, and even some parts of the South are either killed or they are attacked with their farms burnt.

“So, the immediate thing government needs to do right now, is to ensure that Nigeria is much more secure鈥�

Also speaking to reporters at the summit, Dr. Michael Ojo, Country Director of the Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN), identified climate change, the high-level insecurity as well as Nigeria鈥檚 population growth outstripping its food production, as some of the issues causing malnutrition in the country.

Dr. Ojo said: 鈥淢alnutrition is a big problem for the country. But it is not a new problem.

“I think there is a lot more focus on this, partly because it is an increasing problem and the reasons for this are multiple.

“We produce a lot of food but we are growing faster than we produce food. So, there is a lot of pressure on the amount of food available to us.”

He noted: “Unfortunately, in recent years, production capacity has reduced because of insecurity and other factors, such as climate change.

鈥淎lso, it is one thing to produce food and it is another thing to produce food that is nutritious.”

The Country Director of GAIN stated: “So, when we talk about malnutrition, we talk about it also in the context of food and nutrition insecurity.

“We are trying to deal with a double-headed problem. This is why this initiative by the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security is really good.”

He further said: “What we have is not a problem for the Federal Government, it is a problem for the three tiers of government.

“The Federal Government can make policy, but where the real action is at the states and Local Governments, this is where the real action is.鈥�

Responding to a question on the sustainable solutions for producing adequate quantity of food to drive down hunger and malnutrition, Dr. Ojo, opined that some of the solutions could be quickly implemented, while also ensuring that long-term solutions are factored in by government.

The GAIN chief explained: 鈥淭here are multiple problems and multiple solutions.

“We have to come together to make the solutions work. People say, 鈥榯he farmers are not working鈥�, 鈥榯hey don鈥檛 apply the right ways of farming鈥�, currently, lots of our farming is rain-dependent.

“The majority of farms are not irrigated. But these are parts of the problems and there are lots of opportunities.”

He said: “For example, we can give access to women who are a big part of the farming population, to be able to access land to produce on a small-level scale.”

Uju Rochas Anwukah, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Public Health and Focal Person on Nutrition (Office of the Vice-President), also in a chat with reporters at the event after her presentation, titled: “Strengthening Nutrition in Nigeria Through the N774 Initiative: The Prospects”.

Anwukah said the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration is tackling hunger and malnutrition by collaborating with government at the sub-national level and other key stakeholders.

The Presidential aide stated: 鈥淵es, the situation is grim, but with every challenge, there is always a solution.

“Malnutrition is a problem the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has decided to take on heads on.”

She also said: “The National Council on Nutrition, chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, has recently endorsed a flagship programme, the Nutrition 774 Initiative.

鈥淭he initiative is a framework which is looking to pulling all the key actors together, at a multi-sectoral level, to improve financing and accountability, to be able to tackle malnutrition.”

Anwukah added: “There has been a lot of work over the years, but what this initiative does as a framework is to make key actors to be able to work together, rather than working in silos.鈥�

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