The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has called on Nigerians to make conscious efforts at eating balance diets, saying it would reduce the rate of illness and diseases in the country.
The Minister made this call in his office on Monday, 24th October, 2016 when he received a delegation, led by the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan and the Country Manager of Harvest Plus, also based in Ibadan.
He disclosed that Nigerians ate badly as a result of the fact that most of the foods in the country contain too much carbohydrate, while clarifying that eating well was not the same as eating much.
Ogbeh pointed out that there was serious crisis of malnourishment in the country, with 37 per cent of Nigerian children malnourished, which, he said, has posed a threat to the future of those children.
He informed that the Government was making serious efforts to ensure that Nigerians eat well-balanced food.
“We need to spread the message far and wide”, the Minister stated.
The Governor of Niger State, Dr. Abubakar Bello, who was at the meeting, expressed satisfaction with the work of the University College Hospital and Harvest Plus.
He invited Harvest Plus to his State for more discussions, as he looked forward to partnering with the organisation.
Earlier, the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge expressed interest in the expansion of the University College Hospital Agricultural Initiative, UCHAI, through the UCH Ventures.
He disclosed that the UCH Ventures, which was registered in 2009, offers pre-retirement training opportunities in aquaculture and Fadama farming to its staff, aside improving the internally generated revenue of the hospital through the Ventures.
He said further that the management of the hospital has deemed it necessary to expand UCHAI through UCH Ventures to accommodate retirees, some of who are still agile enough and willing to make a living through agriculture.
Alonge also said that many of the health challenges at the Hospital’s staff clinic and the geriatric center were nutrition related.
He said, “In view of this, UCHAI has established a working relationship with Harvest Plus, an international organisation at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan. The relationship has a two prong approach, one of which is the sourcing for raw materials in various value chains in agriculture, and the second is on science of nutrition and healthy living, which is premised on fortification of foods.”
The Medical Director expressed his conviction that the advent of fortification of staple foods in Nigeria through Harvest Plus would address epidemic of Diseases Related Malnutrition, DRM, which has been a major but overt health challenge in hospitals.
He said in aligning with government’s vision, UCHAI sought the assistance of the ministry in provision of seeds, insecticides, fertilizers, farming tools and equipment.
The Country Manager of Harvest Plus, Dr. Paul Ilona called for a new or complimentary strategy to address the challenge of hidden hunger in Nigeria.
According to him, this is due to the revelation from a study conducted in 2013, which indicated that there was only 13 per cent compliance of Vitamin A in Nigerian foods.
He stated further that for the foods to be more nutritious, there was need to
work along the value chain and ensure extra nutrients in Nigeria crops.
He informed that his agency was assisting over one million Nigerian farmers to grow Vitamin A cassava and beans, adding that through the efforts of his organisation, about 25 products now contain Vitamin A in Nigeria.
He called for continuous support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to enable his organisation reach out to other States in Nigeria, and pledged that Harvest Plus would continue to work with other relevant stakeholders, especially the youth to ensure that Nigerians go for more nutritious foods.
He used the opportunity to invite the Minister to the Nutritious Food Fair which will hold in Calabar later in the year.