Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Shift to healthy and sustainable consumption pattern Poor nutritional knowledge and ignorance on nutritious and healthy diets coupled with poverty are the causes of malnutrition among rural and urban dwellers. Shifting to healthy and sustainable consumption patterns requires motivating and empowering consumers to make informed, healthy, safe and sustainable food choices. To achieve this there is need for value reorientation of consumers through community engagements, mass media discussion programmes for parents and school children to rely on nutritious local foods like wholegrains, legumes, eg... Read moregs and vegetables. Embarking on large scale production of blended foods from local sources to prevent and manage moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and community driven food assistance programmes where communities procure food in bulk and distribute at cheaper rate to members should be explored. Training of food processors on the use of appropriate storage and preservation techniques especially for perishable foods is crucial in addition to consumer education on what constitutes healthy diets as well as reducing the consumption of high calorie, sugar and salt processed foods for healthy living cannot be overemphasised. Enhancing availability and access to healthy, safe and sustainable diets is also critical. This will involve rebranding the social investment policies to improve the nutrition status of the vulnerable groups, policy reorientation and reintegration of indigenous foods into fast food menu lists, legislation and enforcing regulations guiding fortification of processed foods for improved nutrition. Government assisted branded transportation system to move farm produce from farm gates to rural and urban markets to reduce costs, spoilage, improve availability and access to consumers should be encouraged. School feeding programme has the potential for laying a good foundation for healthy diets and sustainable food consumption among school children and when linked with small holder farmers can also ensure sustainable supply of fresh and safe foods for children. Governmental, non-governmental organisations, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are important stakeholders in shifting to healthy and sustainable consumption patterns. They can contribute by producing dietary guidelines and food recipes for different age groups using National food based dietary guidelines, training farmers, agro processors, retailers in good agricultural practices as it concerns the use of pesticides and chemicals to ensure food safety. Reintroducing the commodity boards for produce uptake and price regulations of farm produce is essential. Low cost interventions that can improve child nutrition should be implemented while civil society organisations and other non-state actors should educate consumers on safe and nutritious foods and dispel food misinformation being peddled on social media. Farmers association should also embark on training of members on good agricultural practices for healthy and sustainable food production and consumption. Primary Health Care facilities should integrate food demonstration to caregivers on sustainable food diversification/consumption. To ensure the success of these actions, baseline data should be established at the beginning of interventions to know if they are successful or not while developing measurable and time bound indicators to collect data, track and measure the effects of interventions through periodic monitoring of the interventions. Read less

Discussion Topic South West food system eliminates hunger, reduces malnutrition, improves health, and provides food free from all forms of contamination for everyone, including the poor What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? Strand 1: Reducing hunger and inequality • Food must first be available before there can be nutritious or safe food. To increase food availability, farmers must be reached with financing, improved seeds that are high yielding, mechanization to reduce drudgery, irrigation to multiply number of planting cycles in a year, and chiefly... Read more, security of lives and property. • To improved access, market linkages must be improved, including roads rehabilitation, to facilitate distribution from areas of surplus to areas of scarcity. • For the very poor, nutrition-sensitive social protection programmes, including nutritious school meals, are indispensable. Strand 2: Increasing availability and affordability of nutritious foods • Promote value addition during food processing. • In rapidly urbanizing areas, affordable markets that sell fresh food products must be preserved. Strand 3: Ensuring safe food • Regulation of informal street food vendors is important. Local governments must strengthen environmental health regulatory system to incorporate supportive supervision practices and education before regulation. • Inappropriate use of agrochemicals along entire value chains must be addressed, including the regulation of agrochemicals. • Education of all food system actors to deliver and/or demand foods that meet minimum safety standards. • Production and promotion of improved packaging materials Cross-Cutting • Improved food storage and processing to ensure food availability year-round, prevent waste, preserve nutrient content, and ensure food safety. • Harness use of technology for information dissemination and education of actors along entire food supply chain • Homestead food production in both urban and rural areas. • Focus on women and active engagement of the youth. • Education of children, including incorporation of school gardens and food production and processing into school curriculum. What contributions will our organisations make for food systems transformation? • Local governments must be actively and strategically engaged. • Ministries of agriculture, environment, and health should facilitate and coordinate actions. • Associations of farmers, food vendors, and food and beverage manufacturers should be used to reach grassroots. • Research institutes would identify necessary improved solutions • Regulatory agencies should facilitate food safety transformation. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • Better performance of children in schools in disadvantaged areas in external examinations • Reduced incidence of illnesses, evidenced by lower volumes of patients visiting medical facilities • Strengthened data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Read less

To ensure that the food production systems produce good quality and nutritionally adequate food commodities, stakeholders recommended the promotion and encouragement of the use of improved high yielding varieties of crops and livestock to increase productivity, and the provision of incentives to farmers in form of subsidy. An associated recommendation is the reduction of dependence on rain-fed agriculture and the promotion of irrigation methods that will shift focus to dry season production to ensure all year-round availability and affordability of nutritious foods, and the adoption of climate... Read more smart and nutrition responsive agricultural practices across the zone. To conserve the environment, stakeholders believe that a gradual shift from the use of inorganic fertilizers to the use of organic fertilizers and the proper use of herbicides and pesticides will protect the environment and support efforts towards ensuring the safety of agricultural produce and prevent food borne illnesses related to food safety issues. There was a call for the use of biological control agents in food production as a means to protecting the environment. There was a call to investigate and promote traditional practices that ensure the protection of the environment including the planting of cover crops to prevent soil erosion. Stakeholders also called for the enforcement of existing laws and regulations that prevent environmental degradation, and for the protection of the ecosystem against new conversions for food and feed production. The efficient recycling of waste, and the use of solar smoking kiln for fish and as against the traditional smoking method that uses wood smoke was also suggested as a means to protecting the health of the environment and of the people. Stakeholders called for the promotion of urban agriculture particularly for the production of vegetables and fruits for household consumption and the sale of the excess production for income generation. The enhancement of access to land for female farmers was also suggested as a way to ensuring household food access. Stakeholders opined that the provision of basic rural infrastructure will facilitate access of farmers to the market so as to reduce wastage, and curb the rising rate of rural urban migration, which in itself is a major underlying cause for household food insecurity and the rising levels of malnutrition in the country. Stakeholders concluded that post-harvest losses can be drastically reduced through the encouragement of on-farm processing activities and the provision of gender appropriate processing equipment, and the associated linkages to off-takers. The creation and revival of commodity boards was proposed as a means of addressing the issue of waste and linkages to off takers. The rehabilitation of, and the use of silos in each of the Local Government areas was also put forward as a means to reducing food post-harvest loses. To ensure the consumption of nutritious, safe, and diverse foods, stakeholders suggested a massive public enlightenment programme because they believe that a large proportion of the population do not have the information to be able to make informed decisions about what they should or should not eat. They also believe that there should be awareness creation on the benefits of consuming healthy, nutritious, and diverse foods. The following actions were recommended 1) Promotion of private sector agricultural extension systems to complement the public sector system for providing extension service to farmers along with awareness creation on the consumption of healthy diets. 2) Promotion of efficient storage techniques for various commodities and facilitating access to such. 3) Provision of basic rural infrastructure by government or through PPP. 4) Positioning & strengthening of research institutes to engage in demand driven research, clarifying their mandates, and monitoring their performances. 5) Setting out regulations and sanctions for environmental degradation from Agro-processing waste. 6) Government to work in partnership with private extension service providers, CSOs/NGOs to build capacity and strengthen extension service delivery. 7) Ensure that farmers have access to early maturing & disease resistant varieties of crops and livestock. 8) Massive enlightenment and sensitization of the general public on the benefits of afforestation and the challenges associated with deforestation. 9) Conflict management and reforms aimed at moderating clashes between farmers and herders. 10) Creating and maintaining a database of farmers to ensure that productive inputs reach practising farmers. 11) Strengthening the agricultural insurance scheme and breaking the monopoly of NAIC in this area. 12) Put in place a monitoring framework. Read less

The major focus of the exploratory dialogues at the geopolitical level was to enable the States explore different perspectives about the zonal food systems; examine the possibilities for making the food systems inclusive, efficient, resilient, and sustainable; and turn possibilities with the greatest promise into priority actions that can be implemented towards building sustainable food systems and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and consider ways in which different the groups of stakeholders can advance these options as contributions to the national path... Read moreway towards sustainable food systems. It was clear from discussions that there was very little understanding, even among policy makers that the excessive focus on agriculture and food security resulted in creating a less diverse food environment that is unable to provide an adequate variety and affordable, safe, and nutrient dense food. It was also very clear that more dialogues focussed on specific areas are still needed to harvest suggestions of game changers among various stakeholder groups. The general lack of understanding and low level of awareness among many rural inhabitants on nutritious and healthy diets coupled with high level of poverty came up prominently in the discussion. Most interventions in nutrition are health facility based with limited reach. This can only be addressed through community- based nutrition programmes and education complemented by nutrition education through the mass media. Other issues identified as militating against sustainable and resilient food systems are social norms leading to gender inequality and limited access to productive assets and weak integration of youth and women in agriculture. Poverty was also cited as limiting the access of majority of the population to diverse and nutritious diets. Efforts were made by the facilitators to get the stakeholders to suggest ways they think the challenges they have identified could be addressed. Read less

GROUP 1 There was no divergence in opinions in the group. The group concluded that the most critical factor in ensuring the success of the renewed effort on food security is the political will of government leaders. GROUP 2 Education: The need for different types of Education for different actors along the food system Lack of constant Electricity: Provision of alternative source of electricity that is cheap, clean and sustainable. GROUP 3 • Government actions of improving security in farming areas connected with food production, processes and distribution, access to funds, reduction of post-... Read moreharvest losses will encourage farmers. • Government should make policies on intervention on mechanized farming for farmers and ease of doing business and value addition to farm Products. • Other major issues that will boost nature positive food system is that Agricultures should have attractive incentive attachment that will attract youths to go into farming, and change their orientation about get rich quick attitudes .. • This can be achieved through enlightenments campaign , improved sensitization for farmers, improve irrigation process in farming, optimization in technology, and Infrastructure back up What contributions will our organisations make? • All organization present agreed to synergise and collaborate through networking and timely arrange for workshop , seminar and training on home gardening and homestead Aquaculture practise. • Commodity exchange, community and aggregation farming (Pay more attention to organic farming) in order to boost Nature –Positive food production. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • The successful action will be observed through measurement and evaluation of aligning our indicator with the Sustainable Development Goals. • Evaluation methods of reduction of inflation of food prices, better nutrition and improved health status for children, reduction in malnutrition and stunted growth among under 5 years children. What are the divergences that are revealed and how to manage them? • The major divergences among the participants are on the different belief systems on methods of production and food processing, usage of agrochemicals and its implication on human health. • Arguments on better food production through the technology of genetically modified organisms(GMO).Diverse attitudes and habits of farmers not willing to learn improved farming methods for better yields. Suggested Management Options are as follows: • Government should expose different categories of farmers and food producers through training, workshops, and seminars at the grassroots level from local governments and wards by government on agriculture extension workers. • There should be enlightenment campaigns through radio, media houses, flyers and jingles.Regulators of investment processes should encourage businesses into sustainable practices, and give accessibility to soft loans, funds on a timely basis. • There should be a strong political will to break invisible glass walls, market structuring, whole sale market, cold chain infrastructure and market standardization and structuring. GROUP 4 The insecurity crisis in the farming communities in the South west region is creating so much fear and distrust among the farming communities and is affecting the food system very gravely. The state governments to come together as a unit to collaboratively monitor their borders, farmland and forests GROUP 5 • Farming in whatever form is generally seen as a profession of the poor which is poorly embraced by the society. This may jeopardise the good intentions of farm settlement initiatives. There should therefore be psychological reorientation that will engender the needed attitudinal change for youths to embrace agriculture in order to ensure a resilient national food system. Read less

Discussion Topic Building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress. What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Crop farming in the region should be revolutionized to incorporate efficient irrigation system in order to encourage an all year-round food production. • Environmental extension services should be incorporated into the overall extension service system in the zone to promote environment friendly farming systems. • There should be capacity building for farmers on new farming techniques climate smart Agriculture, aqua ponics, wildlife ... Read moredomestication, intensive vegetable gardening, aquaculture and homestead farming. • There should be a well-established storage facilities located in strategic places across the States to prevent post-harvest losses • Development of efficient road and rail networks to ensure effective transportation of farm produce. • Strengthening of the security architecture by the government so as to recover forest and farmlands from bandits and build confidence of farmers back to the farm • Development of agricultural industrial hubs such as farm settlement schemes in the states. • Provision of well-structured credit facilities which are farmer friendly, accessible and sustainable. • Development of a robust commodity market system that will absorb market glut and hence ensure price stability. • Collaborating with research institutes and various higher institutions of learning and investing more in demand-driver research activities by the government, as well as collating and utilizing research findings that can help in building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses. • Our correctional institutions should incorporate inmates into the food production system right from land preparation to cultivation and food processing • Develop traditional foods like wild vegetables, wild fruits, condiments, spices, organics like mushrooms, to feature more in the national food system. What contributions will our organisations make? • The Academia and research institutes will assist in conducting demand-driven researches that will promote a more environment-friendly agriculture, increase yield as well as food and nutrition security and equitable livelihood for all, while ensuring the sustainability and functioning of the ecosystem. • The NGOs will be willing to collaborate with government to provide services in the area of monitoring and evaluation of interventions in the food system. • Enactment of enabling laws to back up the necessary policy initiatives will be made by the government in the zone How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • Setting verifiable indicators of achievements and establish effective monitoring and evaluating strategies at the inception of each project. • Evaluate various interventions that have been done especially those on smart agricultural practices, National fadama and Critical ecosystem management projects, National erosion and watershed management projects in the time past and do a modelling of impact, scale-up where necessary and strategize on the way forward. Read less

Discussion Topic Advance Equitable Livelihoods What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Develop partnership with big private players in agriculture for capacity building and empowerment of small scale, poor, women and youth farmers. • Put in place food information system to provide relevant and accurate information on production practices, farm management, prices of agricultural produce, food security dimensions and markets for agricultural products • Enact policies to reduce women vulnerability and protect their livelihoods to bridge gender gap f... Read moreor them to contribute more to the food systems • Since the South West region is highly urbanized, the government of that region should encourage urban agriculture in order to enhance food security in the region • Enhance the earnings of the farmers by creating aggregation centers for uptake of farmers’ produce by companies who make use of the farm produce in their product development at good regulated prices such as it is being done by WAMCO which buys milk directly from small scale producers • Invest and encourage value addition food processing by women, youth, small scale entrepreneurs etc. to enhance equitable livelihoods in the food system • Put in place insurance scheme to enhance profitability and mitigate loss in the food system What contributions will our organisations make? • State governments must enact policies to pull down discriminatory barriers in accessing public finances and other requisite resources for equitable livelihood in the food system • The Academia should serve as think tank in formulating appropriate strategies and policies to achieve equitable livelihood for all • The development partners can help in the development of food information system and advocacy for urban agriculture in the region How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • Existence of relevant agencies, partnership, policies and legislations to reflect the recommended actions • The number of small scale entrepreneurs, women and youth that have received capacity building and empowerment resulting from the partnership of government and big players in the food system • Existence of a functioning food information system for the region • Number of people that start practicing urban agriculture • Existence of aggregation centers for uptake of farmers produce by companies which make use of the farm produce in their product development • Number of value addition food processing units by women, youth, small scale entrepreneurs etc. • Existence of a comprehensive food system insurance scheme and the number of stakeholders that participate and benefit from such scheme Read less

BOOSTING NATURE- POSITIVE FOOD SYSTEM PRODUCTION What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Government actions of improving security in farming areas connected with food production, processes and distribution, access to funds, reduction of post-harvest losses will encourage farmers. • Government should make policies on intervention on mechanized farming for farmers and ease of doing business and value addition to farm Products. • Other major issues that will boost nature positive food system is that Agricultures should have attractive incentive atta... Read morechment that will attract youths to go into farming, and change their orientation about get rich quick attitudes .. • This can be achieved through enlightenments campaign , improved sensitization for farmers, improve irrigation process in farming, optimization in technology, and Infrastructure back up What contributions will our organisations make? • All organization present agreed to synergise and collaborate through networking and timely arrange for workshop , seminar and training on home gardening and homestead Aquaculture practise. • Commodity exchange, community and aggregation farming (Pay more attention to organic farming) in order to boost Nature –Positive food production. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • The successful action will be observed through measurement and evaluation of aligning our indicator with the Sustainable Development Goals. • Evaluation methods of reduction of inflation of food prices, better nutrition and improved health status for children, reduction in malnutrition and stunted growth among under 5 years children. What are the divergences that are revealed and how to manage them? • The major divergences among the participants are on the different belief systems on methods of production and food processing, usage of agrochemicals and its implication on human health. • Arguments on better food production through the technology of genetically modified organisms(GMO).Diverse attitudes and habits of farmers not willing to learn improved farming methods for better yields. Suggested Management Options are as follows: • Government should expose different categories of farmers and food producers through training, workshops, and seminars at the grassroots level from local governments and wards by government on agriculture extension workers. • There should be enlightenment campaigns through radio, media houses, flyers and jingles.Regulators of investment processes should encourage businesses into sustainable practices, and give accessibility to soft loans, funds on a timely basis. • There should be a strong political will to break invisible glass walls, market structuring, whole sale market, cold chain infrastructure and market standardization and structuring. Read less

Shift To Healthy and Sustainable Consumption Patterns AT2 Oyo state What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? (i) A sustained, institutionalised, content and context-specific education at each segment if the food system (ii) un-interrupted supply of electricity for processing, preservation And storage of food products (iii) Active participation of relevant regulatory Agencies (IV) Full involvement of electronic and print media What contributions will our organisations make? (i)Construction of rural road networks to improve access to farm settlement, to enh... Read moreance the transfer of food products to the markets. (ii)Improving storage facilities to increase food availability: Commissioning of 10,000 tons silos for grains to improve storage (iii)Creation of Farm estates from farm settlements to creating an enabling environment for those involved in food production and also as a means of making Agriculture attractive to the youths (iv)Regular education provided to the public to help them make healthy food choices How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? Baseline evaluation and periodic evaluations with intent for necessary interventions Read less

Discussion Topic Southwest Food System for Ensuring Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for All What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? Strand 1: Reducing hunger and inequality 1. Provision of rural infrastructure, including access roads, power and storage and processing facilities. 2. Implementation of policies to drive the attainment of access to safe and nutritious food for all. 3. Massive irrigation programme for year round farm production. 4. Encouragement of youth farming /agricultural business, as replacement for ageing farming population. 5. Facil... Read moreitation of access to farm land through the establishment of Land Banks. 6. Facilitation of land clearing with farm mechanisation as a critical requirement for youth and older, as well as women farmers. 7. Encouragement of urban farming, particularly for women-led production and processing of food. 8. Robust Agricultural Extension Services to support the agriculture value chains. 9. Formation of Smallholder farmers’ cooperatives, for financing and agro-processing. Strand 2: Increasing availability and affordability of nutritious foods 1. Re-establishment of agricultural commodity boards for good, stable prices for agricultural commodities, and regional farm produce markets for access to cheaper fresh food. 2. Promotion of wholesome indigenous foods and livestock and apiculture. 3. Sustenance of National Home Grown School Feeding programme. 4. Promotion of biofortified foods, for provision of vitamin and mineral-enriched staples. Strand 3: Ensuring safe food 1. Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and safe food handling practices. 2. Establishment of public health laboratories, to support Nutrition Units in ensuring food safety compliance. 3. Collaboration between state food safety agencies and Federal regulatory agencies, to curb food adulteration. Cross-cutting 1. Mainstreaming of agriculture into elementary and secondary education. 2. Promotion of local production of agricultural implements and processing machines. 3. Enhancement of rural security network by formation of farm clusters and deployment of Joint Task Forces of State and Non-state security entities. What contributions will our organisations make? 1. Outcomes of researches by Federal, state and private universities and institutes, need to be streamed into the private sector, for greater efficiency and productivity in food production. 2. Some Southwest states’ initiatives like Start Them Early Programme (STEP) for sustainable food production and Youth in Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) should be adopted by other Southwest states. 3. There is a need to ensure the support of development partners and multilateral organizations, particularly for provision of technology and market development. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? 1. Provision of robust Monitoring and Evaluation system in line with global best practices where key performance indicators could be monitored. 2. The Southwest States’ Committees on Food and Nutrition will, with timely and adequate funding, be effective in project assurance. Read less

To ensure that the food production systems produce good quality and nutritionally adequate food commodities, stakeholders recommended the that there is need to change the face of agriculture in South West in favour of agribusiness and mechanized farming to avert the risk of famine and starvation. It is suggested that crop farming in the region should be revolutionize to incorporate efficient irrigation system as against the usual rain-fed agriculture in order to encourage an all year-round food production. An associated recommendation is that there is need to have adequate data on farming popu... Read morelation, food production, comparative advantage of different crops and other produce and reposition agriculture as a career in the region. To conserve the environment, stakeholders was of opined that the region should conduct environmental audit of various interventions that have been done in times past, especially those on smart agricultural practices, national fadama and critical ecosystem management projects, national erosion and watershed management projects, and do a modelling of impact, scale-up where necessary, and strategize on the way forward for a sustainable food system by 2030. Stakeholders believe that a Modern technology such as IT and GIS should be deployed into soil and nutrient mapping, land banking and weather modelling as means to control poor farming system. There was a call by the stakeholders to encourage organic farming and the planting of biofortified crops through community sensitization as a means of protecting the environment. Stakeholders called for improvement of the infrastructure and create incentives in the rural areas such as the creation of farm estates to stem the rural – urban migration. It was also suggested to put in place policies action to reduce women vulnerability and protect their livelihoods to bridge gender gap for them to contribute more to the food systems Stakeholders concluded that post-harvest losses can be drastically reduced through provision of rural infrastructure, including access (feeder) roads, power and facilities for storage and processing, including cold chains, perishables and cereals. Improvements in these areas will have an immediate and dramatic positive effect on the volume of food reaching the market (consumers) in good condition. This will increase food availability and reduce food inflation. Improving storage facilities to increase food availability such as silos for grains to improve storage; Creation of Farm estates from farm settlements to creating an enabling environment for those involved in food production and also as a means of making Agriculture attractive to the youths and Regular education provided to the public to help them make healthy food choices. Stakeholders recommended the urgent implementation of the following actions to kick start the process of repairing the SW geopolitical zone food systems. i. Crop farming in the region should be revolutionize to incorporate efficient irrigation system as against the usual rain-fed agriculture in order to encourage an all year-round food production; ii. Extension services should be improved to include environmental extension which should incorporate environment friendly farming systems; iii. There should be capacity building for farmers on new farming techniques climate smart Agriculture, aqua-ponics, wildlife domestication, intensive vegetable gardening, & aquaculture in order to improve food supply; iv. There should be a well-established storage facilities located in strategic places across the States to prevent post-harvest losses; v. Development of good and efficient road and rail networks to ensure effective transportation of farm produce, so as to bridge the gap between farm gate and markets and reduce post-harvest losses; vi. Strengthening of the security system by the government so as to to secure our lands and forests and recover farmlands from bandits in order to build the confidence of farmers back to the farm; vii. Provision of well-structured credit facilities which are farmer friendly, accessible and sustainable will help to cope with stresses from poverty; viii. Development of a robust commodity market system that will absorb market glut and hence ensure price stability; ix. Collaborating with research institutes and various higher institutions of learning and investing more in demand-driver research activities by the government, as well utilizing research findings that can help in building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses; x. Develop traditional foods like wild vegetables, wild fruits, condiments, spices, organics like mushrooms, to feature more in the national food system. xi. Establishing effective monitoring and evaluation strategy. Read less

The major focus of the exploratory dialogues at the geopolitical level was to create an opportunity in guiding governments and other stakeholders to identify for implementation of reforms that would transform food systems towards achieving the SDGs; identify game changing ideas that would transform the food systems of various sub-populations in the Country; help develop the future direction for Global Food Systems and inspire necessary action; and promote potentials and understanding the challenges that arise from food systems by collaboration and consensus among all stakeholders. The major ch... Read moreallenges facing the Nigeria Food Systems were identified by stakeholders to include - gaps in food insecurity and malnutrition across Nigeria and populations, forests and deforestation is a serious challenge in the region; No land space in the South West and population is increasing; There are other several critical issues that challenge food system performance: rapid urbanisation and the growth of megacities, requirements for agro-food systems upgrading, and management of food access, distribution and price through rural-urban linkages. Efforts were made by the facilitators to get the stakeholders to suggest ways they think the challenges they have identified could be addressed. Read less

GROUP 1 Divergences revealed include: 1. Continuous use of traditional methods of farming because some farmers trust the methods they are used to 2. Lack of modern farming implements and improved varieties from Research Institutes 3. Different levels of government attempting to do the same thing in favour of households and farmers thereby duplicating efforts and resources that could be channelled into other uses 4. Considering some farmers more important than others in the provisions inputs How to manage them: 1. Team Work 2. Policy formulation 3. Synergy 4. Partnership 5. Nutrition education ... Read moreand awareness GROUP 2  Sensitization and media activities should not be prioritized over primary production and processing  Conversations and brainstorming should be replicated at grassroot levels  Sincerity and political will on the part of government is key GROUP 3 The divergences are ‘healthy diet’ and ‘sustainable diet’. The members of the Global Panel (2016) recognize that “While there is no universal ‘diet quality index’, there is general agreement on what a healthy or high-quality diet should include”, [that is] “a diversity of foods that are safe and provide levels of energy appropriate to age, sex, disease status and physical activity as well as essential micronutrients.” The answer is clearly: not necessarily. It is dangerous, therefore, to unconditionally associate a healthy diet with a sustainable diet and promoting too broadly win-win scenarios. While evidence suggests that synergies can, in principle, be identified (e.g., such as reducing animal protein in meat-based diets), these are often very difficult to achieve. On the other hand, completely decoupling healthy diets from the sustainability of value chains that deliver them would also not be desirable from a food system’s, environmental and climate change perspective. In sum while synergies are feasible if we capitalize on innovations, trade-offs and hard choices are more likely to characterize the near future of food systems and it is important to understand how diets (as proxy for health) and sustainability interactions play out at different scales and in different contexts. Read less

Discussion Topic Building Resilience to Vulnerability Shock and Stress What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Preservation and Storage Facilities ; improving the storage facilities in the SE zones to modern and standard storing system, to accommodate more perishable food items . government should go into partnership with cooperative societies, and individuals to build storage facilities in all communities in the south east zone Government should partners with society in providing solar panel cold rooms • Climate- the government should cooperative ... Read morewith the metrological unit (NMETS) to monitor forecast and plan with farmers association on climatic emergencies and response such as drought and flooding, • Urban Agriculture planning; government policies should be consistence on school gardening ensuring that all schools have a garden . government to allot land in urban areas on urban agricultural farms • Agro- processing zones – making agriculture more accessible, govt should make aggregate or cluster for processing zones which will have most aspect of the food system such as production processing , storage • Off – takers a system a community-based initiative in which small and medium scale farmers produce will easily be bought by involving other stakeholders and multisector • Food distribution and Marketing strategy – govt interventions on Agriculture produce group who tax farmers heavily, and also curtail the security issues of curfew to allow identified farmers to easily distribute their goods curfew. • Home gardening sensitizing the people on the importance of home gardening for sustainable food chain • Hydroponics systems of agriculture to be encouraged such as hydro phonics, Aero phonics farming especially in urban areas with limited land • Gender mainstreaming in all policies formulation and removal of gender baise or determinants in accessing agricultural loans and land acquisitions. Gender sensitive policies in Agriculture. • SMART AGRICULTURE by farmers planting plants with shorter duration of maturity in flood prone areas or drought resistance crops in drought areas. Sensitizing farmers on climate smart practices such as cover cropping, mulching. Food tracking system – food surveillance and equitable distribution of food supplies and food data base for evidence-based intervention and policy formulation • Cooperative societies expanding registration in the cooperative societies and encouraging transparency in seedlings distribution, loans tax exemption, and price regulation of food produce by biodiversification and comparative competitions among farmers • Mechanized farming through government support to cooperative to expand farming. What contributions will our organisations make? • Supporting the Government of the South east zones on developing a Agro-processing zones • Financially supporting small and medium scale farmers through cooperatives by giving incentives and soft loans • Building up a data based to track progress in the food system of the South east zones How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? Through simple indicators such as tracking food supply, malnutrition indices in the south east, and agricultural indigenous innovations Read less

Discussion Topic Action Track 4: Advanced Equitable Livelihoods What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? Address insecurity Resolve the difficulty in assessing land and the land tenure system Use of poor implements and farm inputs Inclusion of vulnerable population into social investment programmes What actions can be taken within the next 3 years in other to improve livelihoods? Improved security in rural areas Improvement of infrastructure at rural areas Reorientation from local to a more modern way of agriculture Credit facilities for agriculture finan... Read morecing Social Investment programs Revitalization of primary health care facilities Monitoring budgetary allocations to agriculture Timely release of counterpart funding from government Modern agricultural practices and maintenance of standards Reduction of postharvest losses What contributions will our organisations make? Contribution we will provide is in the area of advocacy to government and local/traditional authorities on the issues such as: 1. Land leasing for poor families and women. 2. Empowerment of government agencies like ministry of agric. to provide farm inputs and implements as well as information dissemination to farmers. 3. Provisions of starter packs and support to trained young generation farmers. 4. There should be non-governmental agencies/civil society organizations set for the monitoring of budgets from the source of release and implementation of budgetary allocation to agriculture. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? The indicators of the success of the action will be 1. Quarterly or yearly assessment of livelihood status of the poor families and poor widows in South east Nigeria. 2. Proactive monitoring and evaluation of the extent of implementation of the inputs from various organisations in advancing and equitable livelihood supports. 3. Generating base line data of the status of livelihoods at the moment to enable build-up of strategies to advance and ensure equitable distribution of livelihood supports. 4. Training of individuals for the data collection, records and statistics on the trending of livelihood supports Read less

Discussion Topic BOOSTING NATURE POSITIVE FOOD PRODUCTION What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? 1. Infrastructural development. 2. Establishment of Agricultural Processing Zones. 3. Strengthening of policy advocacy for a mind, policy and practice change to take place, from the traditional notion of food as a mere human need to the contemporary notion of food as a fundamental human right in Nigeria. 4. The quick passage of the Right to Food Bill (SB 240) pending before the National Assembly. 5. Intensification of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practice... Read mores and reforestation 6. Guaranteeing of the regeneration of our ecosystems and nature and to substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. 7. Creation of National Agricultural Development Fund. 8. Creation of effective relationship between the federal and state governments for agricultural development. What contributions will our organisations make? Our organisations will help in: i. Policy formulations and implementations. ii. Putting Legislation and enforcements. iii. Ensuring compliance: through improved budget oversight by National Assembly iv. Strengthening the policy process (Policy framework) v. Investing in new farming technology (biotechnology, Tissue Culture and Genome editing)—from better seeds to digital tools to machinery How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • Operationalized transformative and smart partnerships. • Improvement in the Functionality and effectiveness of Food System. • Improved security-ability of farmers moving freely to their farms • Ability of Nigeria participating in global trade without challenge Read less