To address the high rate of malnutrition among children in the North East, the Gombe State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Salisu Baba Alkali has said the governments in the region would improve budgetary allocation for biofortification.
He spoke in Lagos at the weekend during the biofortification thought leadership series organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety (FMAFS) and HarvestPlus.
The commissioner who was a participant at the seminar decried the high rate of malnutrition in the North West and North East regions, saying the problem can be addressed through increased budgetary allocation to make provision for enough biofortified foods.
He said, “I like to thank Harvestplus Nigeria for bringing us together to come and discuss and also understand the whole concept of biofortification in Nigeria.
“I have learnt a lot as to the number of children, people that are malnourished in Nigeria and particularly from our own part of the country, in the North-West and in the North East, the figure is very high.
“Biofortified food is very important in ensuring that we have improved nutrients in the food that we eat so that we bring up children that are healthy and strong.
“You can see that because of lack of nutrients such as Vitamin C, D and the rest, the children, particularly in the North East and the North West have some challenges. To go back to your question, it is a challenge. If you want to improve the nutrients, we have to review the way we do our budget now that we are enlightened about what biofortification is and the essence and the importance.
“We advised the federal and state government to review the way we prepare our budget to ensure that we give more emphasis, more money on providing biofortified food for the betterment of our children.”
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