President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to invest in food security and nutrition knowledge dissemination, skills’ development, and information management systems to enhance agricultural productivity for national food security
Buhari said this on Thursday in New York at the Food Systems Summit as part of the High-Level meetings of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In a statement by Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, Buhari said Nigeria had developed a “food system focused development agenda that prioritizes healthy diets and affordable nutrition, inclusive, efficient, resilient, and sustainable, which will contribute to rebuilding our economy, creating jobs and spurring growth across sectors while sustaining our ecosystems.”
He said the plan was the outcome of a wide range of stakeholder-engagement geared towards a better understanding of their food systems, experiences and needs.
“following the recommendations from the dialogues and our plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within a decade, Nigeria is committed to: investing in food security and nutrition knowledge dissemination, skills’ development, and information management systems to enhance agricultural productivity; building sustainable, responsive, and inclusive food systems; enhancing the productivity of smallholder farmers and empowering women and youths for greater access to food production; while strengthening climate mitigation strategies and conflict early warning systems that will reduce the many stresses and shocks to our food systems.”
The President commended the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for convening the Summit, calling it “a bold step towards achieving the 2030 global development Agenda at a time COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant consequences are threatening progress.”
