The Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria, CSSUNN, has called for food producers to diversify and improve their production to ensure produce in Nigeria guarantee both food security and nutrition security.
CSSUNN executive secretary Beatrice Eluaka said, “Farmers in the past just went ahead to produce whatever grows in their locality. We are trying to bring some nutrition into what we grow and eat, knowing that no one food contains all the nutrients that the body requires.”
She spoke to Daily Trust at a briefing to mark World Food Day in Abuja.
“Food production or food security does not translate to nutrition security, unless we make deliberate effort to have it.
“What we want to achieve is nutrition and we cannot achieve it without the food. this is where the marriage comes in.”
The day sparked a flurry of reportage about Nigeria’s food security—and the role of different sectors in bridging the gap in nutrition security.
It calls for full implementation of the country’s food and nutrition policy, improved farming techniques to boost production, biofortification of foods to ward off micronutrient deficiency, better processing and preservation to improve quality and shelf life.
