By Ajibola Fowowe
The Nigeria Ministry of Agriculture and Food Scarcity strikes a long-term permanent deal with the World Bank after years of mere sponsorship and programme orientation.
The announcement was made during a briefing with the World Bank executives while explaining the reasons behind the programme.
The Director of the Nutrition and Food Safety Department , Alhaji Nuhu Kilishi at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security explained the measures the Federal Government is taking to avert food insecurity and Malnutrition amidst the economic crisis.
He explained this during the stakeholders consultative meeting late on Friday evening.
According to Kilishi food scarcity has increased from 35% in 2014 to 74% in 21 States.
“Only 20% of Nigerians are currently food secure, meaning they are certain of their next meal,”
Furthermore, general insecurity; kidnapping and banditry has also worsened the economic hardship reducing farm sizes and driven many away from farming.
He further emphasized that this led to Inflation and rising prices of food inputs and commodities have also made it difficult for households to afford healthy diets,” he added.
To tackle the crisis, the federal government is implementing a new plan as a spin-off of the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project, a state-led, World Bank-funded initiative aimed at reducing malnutrition by expanding access to cost effective nutrition services for vulnerable people.
One of these strategies is the distribution of seeds and inputs to support homestead gardening across all 774 Local Government Areas,” he said.
According to him, the plan will be implemented in 21 states with support from the World Bank, while the remaining 15 states will receive funding from federal resources.
Dr. Ritgak Tilley-Gyado, a Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank, said the ANRiN project, which began in 2018, had entered its second phase.
She explained that the Bank initially committed 232 million dollars to the programme at Nigeria’s request, marking a shift from curative to preventive approaches in addressing malnutrition.
“With additional crisis response window financing made available, the aim now is to strengthen Nigeria’s systems to prevent future food and nutrition crises.” In her closing remark.
Tilley-Gyado emphasized that the new plan was focused on building long-term resilience rather than responding reactively to emergencies.
