The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, (UN), has said that over four million Nigerians go hungry and suffer from malnutrition.
The FAO said the situation is large because of the challenges associated with conflict, pests and diseases, natural disasters, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, economic challenges and devastating effects of Covid-19.
The organisation’s representative to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), Fred Kafeero, made this known yesterday in Abuja, during a Press Conference at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to mark the 2021 World Food Day celebration with the theme: Our actions are our future: ‘Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”.
Kafeero said functioning food systems would not only assure enough and quality food but environmental sustainability which is vital for the development of the present and future generations.
He said there are also other key elements such as better data, governance and institutions that need to be added to the equation.
He, however, called for interventions on research and development to make farming more technologically advanced, innovation in digital agriculture, and re-skilling young people and improving literacy rates among women.
