Food Science, Nutrition and Technology

Biography

Biography: Ogundele Anthonia

Abstract

Sequel to the discovery of oil, Nigeria has quickly developed into a significant food importing country as the government has gotten  careless of the agrarian area since oil is viewed as a progressively practical asset for development. A worry about food security in Nigeria and for sure Africa has reliably developed in the previous decades and has in this way become a contemporary issue requiring the pressing consideration of government at all levels. This desperate imperative is predicated on the stipulation that food security is one of the pointers of a nation's improvement and all things considered, Nigeria can't stand to see the topic as each other undeserving marvel. Malnutrition is far reaching in the whole nation and rural areas are particularly powerless against ceaseless food shortages, malnutrition, unbalanced nutrition, erratic food supply, poor quality foods, high food costs, and even total lack of food. This phenomenon cuts over all age gatherings and classes of people in the rural regions. For one, the number of inhabitants on the planet is expanding at a dynamic, if not disturbing rate which implies that the dissemination and fair appropriation of accessible resources will be challenging. This combined with the evident financial obligations of the government has made countries of the world pay attention to taking care of their abounding populace. All the more along these lines, like never before, giving nourishment; a fundamental need of life, has become pressing in the face of migration which has not only engendered population explosion but has made migration and emigration easy.  There is a high level of malnutrition among children in rural Nigeria ; the figures differ with geopolitical zones, with 56 percent reported in a rural area of South West and 84.3 percent in three rural communities in the northern part of Nigeri . Nationally, the overall prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight are 42.0 percent, 9 percent and 25 percent, respectively..This isn't to undermine the role of globalization in any case villagization which has united countries and abrogated borders in some cases, and created porous borders in others. To improve food and national security in Nigeria, the government should strive to strengthen policy and institutional frameworks for implementing food and national security programs and better target some key priority areas. Specifically, the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning should establish a platform to accommodate federal, state, and local government collaboration in food and national security programs. Likewise, the platform should coordinate development partners, NGOs, CSOs, and relevant committees. Furthermore, the ministry should prepare an investment plan for food and national security intervention programs to form the basis for annual budgetary allocations and coordinate with development partners so that financing of food and national security intervention programs is not so thinly spread. Given the prevailing resource constraints, investments in food and national security could offer the greatest impact in terms of ending rural hunger if there is a paradigm change in the partnership arrangements involving government, NGOs, CSOs, and development partners. There is need to shift emphasis away from excessive advocacy and politicization of the intervention programs. Budget lines for food and national security programs must be prioritized to ensure adequate resource allocation by all partners and timely release of funds to finance relevant programs. Finally, emphasis must be placed on empowering vulnerable groups through non-contributory social protection, lifting them out of poverty, providing health and nutrition facilities in addition to basic amenities in the rural areas, and developing the skills of those implementing food and national security programs.