The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres called on World leaders to convene National Food Systems dialogues to articulate how to make the food systems to be more resilient, sustainable and inclusive. The Permanent Secretary, Budget and National Planning was appointed the National Convenor for the Nigeria’s Food Systems Dialogue in November, 2020. Activities kicked started with the setting up the Food Systems Core Group. This group was made up of experts and senior technical officers from Ministries, Department and Agencies, the UN Donor Group, development partners, civil societies and the private sectors.
The series of dialogues held in Nigeria commenced with the Inception Dialogue which was held on the 23rd of February, 2021 in Abuja. This was followed with about forty (40) Exploratory Dialogues which were organized across the six geopolitical zones, in some selected States and targeted communities. The dialogues which was organized with the spirit of leaving no one behind saw the active participation of relevant groups such as women, youth, indigenous people, Non-Government Organization as well as the private sector. The purpose of having the series of dialogues was to gather ideas, and come up with recommendations/ solutions to addressing the enormous challenges in our food system along the food value chain.
- The Seventy eight (78) recommendations drawn from the various dialogues were further synthesized into short, medium and long term priority actions for a sustainable food systems in Nigeria and was presented to the United Nation by the Head of State, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari in September, 2021. Activities for implementation within the short term are considered as low hanging fruits for which implementation has commenced since January of this year, 2022.
- These short term priorities have been printed and disseminated with clear roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders at (federal, state and Local Government) levels. To ensure seamless implementation of food system Transformation Pathways, an implementation Task Team made up of key stakeholders including key MDAs, Academia, Private sector, CSO, NGO, Development Partners etc was constituted to develop an Implementation Plan for the quick win programmes for 2022 and 2023. We therefore have 10 activities for 2022 & 2023 out of the 78 priority recommendations of the Food Systems Transformation Pathways for Nigeria.
- The plan for the implementation of the selected quick win programmes have been developed and approved by the Chair of National on Council on Nutrition (NCN) and Vice President Federal Republic of Nigeria and setting up of Coordinating Unit for the Food Systems. With the support of stakeholders the strategy for implementing the 78 recommendations has been developed.
- The Permanent Secretaries of all MDAs have been sensitized on their roles in the implementation of these quick win. Subsequently a Technical Working Group made up of Directorate level technical officers of each MDA has also been inaugurated to ensure that every MDA focuses on its roles and responsibility as elucidated in the Food Systems: Call for Action.
- Zonal sensitization workshops were held on the implementation of the Food Systems Transformation Pathways in six geopolitical zones of the country.
- The former Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, inaugurated the Steering Committee for the Implementation of Food Systems Transformation Pathways in Nigeria. Members of the Committee include: The Chairman, Permanent Secretary, Budget and National Planning, Co-Chair by the Country Directors, IFAD and FAO. Members also include Permanent Secretaries from the six zonal coordinating States.
- The Ministry has conducted a mapping of Farm Estates, School Gardens and domestication of weather information in all the six geopolitical zones with reports produced for the Stock Taking in Rome from 24-26 July, 2023.i
The Division also received support for its work from partners such as UNICEF, FAO, IFAD, WFP, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Civil Society Scaling – Up Nutrition of Nigeria, the World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organization and International Fund for Agricultural Development
