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An agro firm, HarvestPlus, has stated that most rural dwellers are prone to severe illnesses over non-consumption of bio-fortified crops which will lead to micronutrients deficiencies like anemia and stunt in growth.
HarvestPlus Head of National Policy, in the Washington DC office, Rewa Misra, stated this at the Bio-fortification policy round table dialogue yesterday in Abuja.
Misra said: “We want to eradicate hidden hunger. So we want women, men, children who have been suffering from micronutrient deficiencies for years, that these deficiencies should finally be eliminated.
“And as a part of their daily diets, rather than through any special medication that gets in should be able to defeat diseases like anemia, stunting, and also morbidity
“I think the government has been very positive on bio-fortification not just within Nigeria but globally, there has been increased recognition by policymakers that bio-fortification is an important solution.
“In fact, it is a long term solution. It is a long term solution because this has to come through food. It has to come through diet. It cannot be through specific alternative interventions.
“Those are very expensive in the long term. So thinking about this from the policymakers perspective, there is definitely a recognition.
“The big question now becomes how to convert that recognition into direct policy mechanisms, budget allocation, the right level of spending so that bio-fortification can scale.
“I think the easiest way is to start to focus on where the deficiencies are highest, as it has been pointed out by others, such as in rural areas, and then start to allocate resources towards scaling up bio-fortified crops.
“Households usually consume what they grow. The rest gets marketed in urban areas to address deficiencies that may be existing in urban areas as well.
“But typically for a farmer who is growing there are many means just by the fact that they will hold back some of that crop it will start to address those deficiencies at the household level.”
Further expatiating on bio-fortification, HarvestPlus Country Director, Yusuf Dollah Fu’ad, said the the crops like Vitamin A maize, oil and sugar should be made available for rural dwellers.
“The staple crops that we have around we should be able to increase your lack of interest interact on vitamin level in it so that as we grow it in our farms and consume, we will have access to this essential micronutrients and vitamins that our body requires for us to live a healthy life.
“Bio-fortification has been in Nigeria for almost 10 years. So what we are trying to do today now is to confess most especially with the policymakers for us to try and see budgetary allocation to seed production,” he said.
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