The Kwara Government on Friday said it would synergise and collaborate with relevant stakeholders in the state to deliver healthy diet for all citizenry.
Gov. AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, who was represented by his Technical Adviser on Agriculture, Mr Abdulqowiy Olododo, said this in Ilorin at the commemoration of the 2021 World Food Day.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), and the Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE).
The 2021 World Food Day has its theme as: “Our actions are our future- better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”.
AbdulRazaq said his administration was prioritising hunger eradication and healthy diet in many ways through its different policies and programmes.
“We are gathered to celebrate this day knowing that with policies and quality investment in agriculture and rural development, we can build a strong and secure state where hunger and poverty can drastically reduce.
“We have looked into the challenges of food sufficiency and believe it is important to collaborate and synergise with relevant stakeholders to achieve progress towards enabling healthy diet for all citizenry.
“As we continue to deliver on our mission by supporting agriculture along the value chains, we enjoin all stakeholders, particularly food producers, processors and merchants to ensure that they adopt best practices that will make food safe for consumption,” he said.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Saba Gideon, said the aim of the celebration was to create an enabling environment towards more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.
The CCEPE CEO, Mr Abdurrahman Ayuba, commended the state government for introducing various agricultural initiatives, which if maintained and sincerely guided, the state path to agricultural posterity is assured.
“If we must succeed in the agriculture sector and attain food sufficiency, all hands must be on deck to ensure enough funding of the sector particularly taking into consideration the CAADP Maputo Declaration and Malabo Commitments.
“We must also embrace climate resilient sustainable agricultural practices and have a second look at our disposition to women in agriculture, starting from the adoption, domestication and popularisation of the National Gender Policy in Agriculture.
“We must also be conscious about the need to make land available for farming especially with effective irrigation systems,” Ayuba said.
The state Coordinator of SWOFON, Hajia Abosede Anifowose, sought the support of relevant stakeholders in overcoming the daily challenges of the group.
Anifowose appealed to the state government for grants for its members and security while on the farm as well as farm inputs and equipment to improve their production with less labour.
She added that the government needed to take the training of farmers seriously for improvement in production and to allocate land to support their farming enterprise.
The organisation, thereafter, presented the National Gender Policy in Agriculture to the governor for implementation.
