By Dr. Promise Etim
Every 16th of October is set aside by the United Nations through the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to mark World Food Day.
The concept behind the celebration is for policymakers, industry drivers, and food producers to stir conversation for enhanced food security to ensure a large percentage of the global population has access to quality food for healthy living.
The 2021 celebration centers on how ‘what we consume’ affects our health and themed “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow”.
The UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Food Programme (WFP) are key drivers of the programme this year.
No fewer than 150 countries will respectively meet to explore options for more collaborations to advance new frontiers that will promote the United Nation’s quest to eradicate hunger and poverty by 2030, as captured in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Established in 1979, WFD has midwived series of interventions and programs aimed at tackling the food crisis globally, especially in the area of bringing people up to speed with developments.
The world over, persons who have contributed towards a hunger-free world are celebrated today, but in our great Nation Nigeria, this may not be the case as a greater percentage of the people are immersed in abject poverty and cannot boost of a meal or two in a day, no thanks to the numerous policy mishaps.
Inadequate Technological Advancement, Poor Investment in Research, Lack of Interest in Food Production, and Plagued Value Addition Initiatives amongst others are some of the factors limiting the advancement of the Agric and Food sector in this clime.
According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 40% (83 million Nigerians) lived in poverty and extreme hunger as of 2020, the number is expected to soar by the last quarter of 2022 to 45%, if genuinely outlined concerns are not addressed.
While countries of the world are building on the gains of the 2020 World Food Day to grow, nourish and sustain their people, and reviewing same with the peculiarities of 2021, there are a lot of questions begging for answers from Nigeria’s point of view, particularly the possibility of having our Nation in the league of countries that will meet some of the real targets of the SDGs by 2030.
Etim, an Agric Engineering Lecturer with Akwa Ibom State University, writes from Uyo.
