By Bolaji Okunola
As plans get underway in readiness for Nigeria’s foremost agricultural conference, the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS), this year’s event will focus on revamping the country’s food system architecture and addressing concerns surrounding critical value chain in the sector.
The theme of the Summit, Post-COVID-19: A Repaired Food System, Pathway to a Revived Economy, seeks to capitalise on the positive energy of the Nigerian agriculture sector to strengthen the economy post-pandemic. It aims to contribute significantly to the actualisation of an inclusive and competitive food system for Nigeria.
Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture on Knowledge Management and Communication, Mr. Richard-Mark Mbaram, who is also a member of the organising committee, made this disclosure during a media on Friday.
According to Mbaram, the summit targets the resuscitation of Nigeria’s food system which was severely disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. He harped on the need for an objective auditing of the entire agricultural ecosystem to ascertain areas of strength and weaknesses; hence its theme.
“The theme of this year’s Feed Nigeria Summit resonates with current realities we face globally from the prism of the food system, heavily occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this Summit, we are looking to x-ray these realities,” Mbaram said. The measures made by the government to improve food system following the COVID-19 pandemic are still curtailed by challenges which continuously result in low productivity, price variations and unfavourable trade realities, post-harvest loss, malnutrition and unemployment.
Mbaram further stated that addressing these concerns will inevitably strengthen the overall economic recovery exorts of the government at all levels.