As Nigeria races to close gaps in food security and climate change toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, experts have said the restriction of women across the food value chain remains a major constraint to the attainment of the goals of poverty eradication and prosperity for all.

At a meeting of the High-Level Forum on the SDGs, organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, yesterday, in Abuja, the forum observed that a number of factors, including gender, high imbalance in trade and foreign debt deficits in agriculture must be addressed and actions upscaled to realise the goals.

Director, SDGs Forum and Chief Operations Officer of the NESG, Dr. Tayo Aduloju, said a number of factors such as cultural restrictions, patriarchy, societal norms and functions, especially in the rural areas, which lock women from certain economic functions in the value chain, must be addressed.

He explained that the meeting, which is a nexus between agriculture and food security, aims to consolidate evidence on where Nigeria, as a nation, stands with respect to food security and to proffer accelerated solutions to identified challenges.