Banditry: 11m people face food insecurity in N/west, says FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization has revealed that 11 million people in the Northwestern part of the country were faced with food insecurity. The Country Representative of the organization, Mr. Dominique Koffi Kouacou, disclosed this while flagging off the distribution of Tom Brown food supplements and farm inputs to malnourished children and farmers in Sokoto […]

The Food and Agriculture Organization has revealed that 11 million people in the Northwestern part of the country were faced with food insecurity.

The Country Representative of the organization, Mr. Dominique Koffi Kouacou, disclosed this while flagging off the distribution of Tom Brown food supplements and farm inputs to malnourished children and farmers in Sokoto on Saturday.

“We want to support them to boost food production and fight malnutrition,” he said

Kouacou noted that, 1.2 million persons were food unsecured in Sokoto alone.

“In Sokoto we have 1.2 million persons in food insecurity and 1m children in global acute malnutrition, thousands in severe acute malnutrition and another thousands in moderate acute malnutrition.

“So we came here with two missions, first to work together with the state government to tackle the root causes of malnutrition and boost food production.

“Secondly, to with the support of France embassy distribute Tom Brown food supplements to children who just got cure from malnutrition so that, they will not come back again,” he said

He further stated that, the organization would train and support farmers with improved inputs so that they could not only provide food for their family but also generate incomes.

He thanked the state government for providing an enabling environment for them to operate.

The Executive Secretary of the Sokoto State Primary Health Development Agency, Dr Larai Aliyu explained that, Rabah and Tangaza were selected for the pilot scheme because of high concentration of malnourished children due to insecurity.

She explained further that, 1,750 children were targeted for the programme.