The Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), has linked insecurity to lingering cases of hunger and malnutrition in the land.
The society at its 54th Annual Scientific Conference in Kano stated that the current security problems has contributed to the national crisis of inadequate food production, pointing out that this has invoked poverty on women and the prominence of the severe cases of malnutrition in children.
The national president of the society, Professor Wasiu Afolabi who spoke with newsmen on the sideline of the annual event, decried security challenges such as banditry, kidnapping as part of the factors that were behind inadequate food production.
The nutrition scholar further lamented that owing to security challenges farmers could no longer stay on their farm to produce food.
He also disparage the continuous rise in inflation, noting that this is one of the core factors, why many citizens are been denied access to adequate food.
He further lamented that issues around climate change have also culminated into rampant perennial cases of flooding, desertification and other effects resulting in the depreciating state of food production, that is presently been witnessed in Nigeria.
The society honcho said that cases of flooding in several parts of Nigeria have resulted in the washing away of the expanse of farmlands, which has contributed to inadequate food in the land.
He appealed to Nigerian authorities at all strata to proceed into partnership with critical stakeholders to embark on massive food production programmes to address the issues bordering on inadequate food production.
The August gathering opines that there also exists an urgent need for the development of new strategies in growing crops that will improve nutritional values.
Adding that, the time is ripe in Nigeria to adopt the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve nutrition with the motive to take women and children out of poverty and malnutrition.
According to Prof Wasiu, there is an immediate need to develop tools for the creation of awareness on nutrition amongst the populace, noting that, if the citizens are well informed on how to combine food varieties to achieve nutritional balance, the notoriety of malnutrition, hunger and poverty would be curbed.
