As Nigeria marks the 2021 National Nutrition Week, experts have urged Nigerians to start home gardening food production to tackle malnutrition in the country.
President of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Professor Wasiu Afolabi, has called on Nigerians to embrace the culture of home gardening to tackle the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition among the populace.
Speaking to pressmen in Abuja at the National Nutrition Week Public Lecture 2021 organised by the Nutrition Society of Nigeria in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Afolabi said, “Government has been making quite a number of efforts over the years to reduce the scourge of malnutrition using the food system approach to challenge malnutrition in the country.”
He noted that the Nutrition Society of Nigeria is making contributions using innovative approaches to promote home gardening at various challenges of food production. He said: ”Using the food system approach, the government is saying that we all should grow the food we consume as a measure of addressing hunger and malnutrition.
“The onus now lies on all of us including our schools, government workers and individuals to use the available spaces in our homes to grow home foods particularly the ones that will address the issue of micronutrients deficiency in Nigeria.
“Everyone should go home, get some sack, baskets and put in the soil there and grow some vegetables that you can consume in your own house,” he urged.
He said for food safety, people should only eat any diet that will reduce the cost of Medicare in their bodies and the burden of healthcare provision in Nigeria, adding that when people are healthy they will be productive and engage in activities that will increase the economy of their families. Afolabi emphasised that Nigeria has the highest level burden of malnutrition that affects women children and the highest burden of malnutrition that affects under 5-year-old children globally.
Another expert, Adebowale Onafowora of BIC Farms advised that Nigerians should engage in back of the house farming of vegetables in their different homes. Onafowora said that in the past there were so many nutritional vegetables imported into the country but over time people could now do the planting from the back of their different homes.
He said: ”From the backyard of homes people are now growing nutritious vegetables that they are selling and making good money from.”
Adding that government is now encouraging the use of the little land to grow what people eat.
“You don’t need big land to grow what you can eat, use your balcony, veranda and the little space that you have and how to multiply what you are growing using technology which can bring in economic transformation for Nigerians,” he stated.
He said that solutions to growing nutritious vegetables include using natural microorganisms developed locally to put on crops organically.
He gave tips on understanding how to use safe biochemicals, period of usage and when to withdraw them from the crops so they won’t have an effect.
Onafowora called on the government to support and create awareness especially in schools to catch them young on the food production system and also in the distribution of improved seedlings to people to encourage and support them in home gardening food systems.
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