Farmers traded N8bn vitamin A maize in Kaduna

The Country Director of HarvestPlus, Dr Yusuf Dollah has said that a recent survey conducted in Kaduna State showed that about N8bn worth of vitamin A maize was traded by farmers in the state within three months. He stated this weekend in Kaduna during the 9th edition of the Nutrition and Food Fair with the […]

The Country Director of HarvestPlus, Dr Yusuf Dollah has said that a recent survey conducted in Kaduna State showed that about N8bn worth of vitamin A maize was traded by farmers in the state within three months.

He stated this weekend in Kaduna during the 9th edition of the Nutrition and Food Fair with the theme ‘Transforming Food System for Improved Nutrition and Climate Resilience’.

He also said that bio fortified value chain in Nigeria is a multibillion-naira industry that can be exploited for food security in the country.

“Between June, July and August (2023). We did a market survey and we collected data in Kaduna here from Soba Market, Makarfi, Lere that is Saminaka, Kubau, Pancho. Now within these 3 months, over N8 billion of grains Vitamin A Maize was traded in the states and these is creating markets for the small holder farmers,” Dollah said.

He added that they received funding from Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and AGRA to strengthen markets because they realized the constraints farmers face as a result of poor seed.

He stated, “So we are working with the funding with AGRA and FCDA to ensure that we strengthen market linkages so that the farmer whenever he wants to convert his produce to cash he can easily do that through the market.”

The HarvestPlus boss said that in Nigeria, the organisation promotes vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize Iron and Zinc zinc-enriched Millet, the Vitamin A enriched sweet potatoes and they also commenced work on developing Zinc rice, which will be released soon.

“As we develop these varieties, we ensure that we don’t leave the varieties on the shelves at Research Institute. We ensure that we bring out these varieties so that our seed companies who are into commercialisations will have access to the early generation seeds for them to multiply and sell to the Agro dealers in our communities so that our farmers who are producers in the communities also have access to these seeds from the Agro dealer shops.

“We also work closely with the State Government or the Federal Government for the creation of enabling environment for these varieties because without enabling policies, value chains will never thrive or will never be sustainable,” he said.

Also, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, noted that Nigeria has the second largest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under 5 which is estimated at 2 million children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition but only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with any treatment.

According to the minister seven percent of Nigerian women are also suffering from acute malnutrition in childbirth and there is need to put hands together to reverse the trend.

Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, in her remarks, said Nigeria is not exempted from the devastating effects of climate change and the part of the manifestation of this is a serious challenge of malnutrition especially among children and women.

She said statistics from several sources have shown that Nigeria occupies a not-so-enviable position in the world which regard to rate of stunting and underweight.

She further stated that micronutrient deficiencies which are often referred to as hidden hunger are also widespread and contribute significantly to increased morbidity and mortality amongst women and children.

She said, “We need to create and adopt innovative and evidence-based solutions that can enhance the production, processing, marketing and consumption of nutritious and climate-smart foods. We need to create an enabling environment that can also support the development and scaling up of such solutions.”