Stakeholders on food security, on Wednesday, urged the Federal Government to recruit more security personnel to secure farms in order to boost food production in the country.
This is contained in a communique at the end of the Rural Food Systems Dialogue organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) supported by the United Nations in Jalingo.
According to the communique, food production, storage, processing and marketing were suffering due to security challenges facing the nation.
The stakeholders also decried massive deforestation caused by farmland expansion, wood extraction, road construction, the building of urban settlements which cause climate change.
They stress the need for afforestation to prevent environmental degradation and mitigate global warming.
The dialogue also cautioned against excessive use of agrochemicals, saying it had a negative effect on the land and also was hazardous to the health of consumers.
It called for more use of organic fertilizer for healthier food and better environmental condition for productivity.
Mr Irimiya Musa, the IFAD State Programme Coordinator (SPC) in Taraba, told participants that the dialogue was in preparation for the planned food systems summit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
According to him, all member states of the UN were to hold national food systems dialogue in advance.
“The food systems dialogue is required to improve nutrition, security, reduce hunger and prevalence of malnutrition in line with the national food and nutrition policy of Nigeria,” he said.
Irimiya said the dialogue which was taking place in eight states of the federation including Ogun, Niger, Kogi, Taraba, Abia, Ondo, Bayelsa and Anambra was part of a decade of action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Tribune Online reports that dialogue which was supervised by Mr Buba Godobe, the Deputy Director Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Charge of Project Coordinating Unit had traditional leaders, community leaders, religious leaders, farmers and herders, top government officials as participants.
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