FG hosts 15 West Africa, Sahel countries over status of agri-food systems

The Federal Government will, on Tuesday, host Fifteen countries from West Africa and the Sahel sub-region at the 13th Multidisciplinary Team Meeting (MDT13) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) for West Africa.

The meeting will among other things, deliberate on the food and nutrition situation in the area.

The 3-day meeting opening will be both virtual and physical, attracting the attendance of over 200 delegates from the ECOWAS member states including senior officials, ministers and commissioners of agriculture, FAO staff, regional technical organisations, civil society among others.

Under the theme: ‘Joining efforts to build resilient Agrifood Systems in West Africa and Sahel’, the countries will take stock of developments, achievements and challenges of the previous year, the alignment of national priorities with those of the sub-region and Africa Region at large and then plan for the emerging issues during 2022.

A statement from FAO said the MDT13 comes at a time when the West African and the Sahel societies are in the midst of rapid demographic and socioeconomic transformations, with population growth, urbanization, rising incomes, climate change and globalization acting as key drivers of change.

At the same time, West Africa’s agrifood system faces continuing challenges of a declining natural resource base, recurrent natural and human-caused disasters, climate change, and rising insecurity.

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In his message during his meeting with FAO Nigeria delegation ahead of the meeting, the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who is the host on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, said that this was a great opportunity for the country and the region as a whole to deliberate on food security and nutrition issues facing them.

“This is quite an opportunity for the countries to come together. I have always advocated for
Africa to cooperate more than we are doing now. We need more brotherly country to country
cooperation. I believe this is one of those opportunities of getting this message across,” Dr Abubakar said.

“I can assure you of Nigeria’s full participation to make sure that our priorities as a country and
those of the region align with FAO’s objectives for our own benefits and development through
cooperation and coordination,” he added.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, the FAO Representative in Nigeria and to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Fred Kafeero, said “the Meeting will further deliberate on the current food and nutrition situation in the subregion and its determinants, as well as on the needs and requirements of the member states and key partner institutions to mitigate the situation.”

He added that the meeting will also be an opportunity to reinforce cohesion for enhanced collaboration, joint planning and mutual accountability in driving actions towards resilient agri-food systems, among key partners.

These partners include regional bodies and member states together with their counterparts in FAO and other UN Agencies, regional producer organisations and technical and financial partners.

The 200 expected participants will assess the current food and nutrition situation in the sub-region and its determinants. They will then determine the needs and requirements of ECOWAS member states and key partner
institutions to mitigate the situation.

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Adeoye Faith