The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has called for effective utilisation of locally produced farm produce in the country to improve nutrition.
The call was made at a three-day Basic Nutrition Course for state level nutrition focal persons in Nigeria held in Bauchi.
Tagged ‘Agricultural Sector, Food Security and Nutrition Strategy 2016 to 2025’, the participants were drawn from Bauchi, Plateau, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Jigawa, Kano, Taraba, Gombe and Borno states.
The head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Zainab Towobola, said the ministry keyed into the nutrition component in order to spur the effective use of available produce to address the challenges of nutrition in the country.
On her part, senior adviser to the minister on Food Security, Dr Adeyinka Adebola, lamented that despite the availability of enough food in areas they are produced, children remained malnourished due to lack of knowledge on nutrition.
She also lamented the rampant use of insecticides and herbicides in the course of production which, she said, affects the quality of nutrients in the food being consumed in the country as it could not meet the nutrients demand.
One of the participants, Aisha Muhammad Yusuf Fari, said they have learnt a lot from the training and would disseminate the knowledge and step it down when they return to their bases.
The training had 30 participants with three from each of the 10 states drawn from the ministries of agriculture, health and others.
By Balarabe Alkassim,
Daily Trust News
