The Nutrition Society of Nigeria has raised alarm over what it described as the worrisome state of increase in hunger caused by food scarcity.
The association made the assertion, during its 54th Annual Scientific Conference held in Kano saying, due to increase in food scarcity , women and children in large number are now suffering indiscriminately from poverty and and malnutrition.
The national president of the association, professor Wasiu Afolabi , in a chat with journalists in Kano, as part of the NSN week long annual activities , lamented that the poor state of nutrition has had an adverse effect on national economic growth, calling for actions to reverse the situation.
He stressed that security challenges in Nigeria that are tied to banditry, kidnapping are some of the key issues that are responsible for backward effect in food production that is been witnessed.
He explained that the security challenges in some major parts of Nigeria were responsible for the barring of farmers from staying on their farm to produce food, adding that this has contributed immensely to the decrease in food production , which has led to adverse increase in cases of malnutrition.
He also decried the continous rise in inflation, citing this as one of the reason people can not have access to adequate food.
He further lamented that issues around climate change has also culminated into rampant cases flooding, desertification and other effects resulting into the depreciating state of food production been recorded over time in Nigeria.
The society said that cases of flooding in several parts of Nigeria has resulted in the washing away of expanse of farm lands, which has contributed to inadequate food in the land.
He appealed to Nigerian authorities at all strata to proceed into partnership with critical stakeholders with the goal to embark on massive food production programmes to address the issues bordering on inadequate food production .
He also urged that there is the urgent need for the development of new strategies in growing crops that will improve nutritional values.
According to him there is the need to develop tools for the creation of awareness on nutrition amongst the populace , noting that, if the citizen are well informed on how to combine food varieties to achieve nutritional balance the malfeasance challenges causing malnutrition, hunger and poverty would be submerged.
