Buhari Pledges Investment In National Food Security
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, 23rd September, in New York while speaking at the Food Systems Summit as part of the High-Level meetings of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘At UN summit on food systems, President Buhari restates commitment to national food security’.
According to the President, 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.
He explained, “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.”
He stressed that as Nigeria works “to transform our food systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, we hope to learn from, and collaborate with Member States that have grappled or are grappling with food systems concerns similar to ours.”
He added that “We especially support the emerging coalitions of actions and sustainable food systems”.
