Osinbajo harps on sustainable food production, home-grown solutions
26 February 2021 |
3:07 am
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the inception dialogue on the United Nations (UN) Food Systems summit, said population growth, physical infrastructural development and climate change
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo PHOTO: Twitter<br />
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the inception dialogue on the United Nations (UN) Food Systems summit, said population growth, physical infrastructural development and climate change have placed a great demand on low-income countries, including Nigeria, to develop home-grown solutions to food and nutrition challenges.
He said the Secretary-General of the United Nations deserved commendation for the proactive initiative, especially its importance in urgently achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
These were disclosed in a statement Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President, made available to The Guardian.
“I am told that the plan is for each member state to organise three dialogues: inception, exploratory and consolidatory.
“The inception dialogue, which in this event, is designed to take place at the national level, while the exploratory dialogue will be at the state level. The obvious wisdom is to make this process as inclusive and participatory as possible. I am keenly interested in ensuring that this is the case.”
Osinbajo said developing a sustainable food system had never been more urgent and more existential “in our case perhaps, more so than in many other countries.”
He explained that Nigeria and other developing countries are faced with population growth that exceeds growth figures handsomely.
“Poverty has deepened, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Malnutrition and unhealthy dietary practices create unique threats to health and productivity for generation after generation,” the vice president said.
He added that “It is a significant challenge to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population, especially given the changes required in modernisation of farming practices, mechanisation and reduction of post-harvest losses.”
But, he pointed out, there are also questions around ensuring environmentally sustainable production practices, creating empowering jobs and livelihoods, and building capacities to ensure sustainable and healthy food systems.
He added that “these issues require expertise and experience, but also the views of those who will literarily be at the receiving end of these plans.”
He called for inclusive bottom-up policy formulation, solution design and implementation strategies to resolve food insecurity, malnutrition and associated challenges.
“… we don’t just want to hear the experts. We want to hear those at the receiving end, for whom all these plans are being made – the people of the country across all strata of society.
“This brings me to the matter of ensuring that these dialogues are accessible to all, meaning that they do not become one for experts essentially ‘talking shop.’
“So, I think our experts have to help us here if we are to convoke a truly national and inclusive dialogue on these important issues.
“I think first, even the five tracks/objectives of the dialogues need to be broken down further and more accessible language used. And secondly, we should identify the key issues by presenting simple questions that the average non-technical person can contribute to.”
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