KWSG Poised to Tackle Food Insecurity- Jaja

In a bid to tackle food insecurity through sustainable partnerships between schools, farm estates and home stead farmers, the Kwara State Government has set up a technical committee to work out modalities for the domestication of the United Nations "food systems transformation pathways" in the State.

The Permanent Secretary of the Kwara State Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, who is also the Chairman of the technical committee, Dr Yaqub Jaja made this known recently during an advocacy visit to the Kwara State Ministry of Communications.

Dr Jaja who explained that the committee was put in place to ensure food sufficiency in the State, highlighted the importance of investing in agriculture thereby increasing access to nutritious and affordable food items in the State. 

He described the government's initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture through the enhancement of food sufficiency in the State as commendable.

 He expressed the government's commitment to providing an enabling environment for agriculture to thrive through the promotion of the consumption of locally sourced foods.

 

Dr Jaja said their visit to the Ministry was aimed at soliciting support and publicity for the programmes of the committee which are aimed at returning the State to the agricultural hub of Nigeria.

In her response, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Mrs Christianah Asonibare thanked the State Government for creating an enabling environment for the committee to perform it's duties and assured the committee of the Ministry's commitment to the success of the programme.

She described the work of the committee as the much needed interventions for food security in the State but encouraged the committee to focus more on schools in the rural areas since they have more lands for the school farming initiative embedded in the committee's programmes.

In his contribution, the Kwara State Director of Information Services, Alhaji Abdulganiyu Atere,  assured the committee of the  Ministry's collaboration in the areas of publicity, through radio programmes, news items, social media handles and  blogs, slots on live programmes, as well as organizing advocacy visits to media houses in the State. 

He promised to make the Ministry's Mobile Public Address Van available to the committee to sensitize the public on their laudable activities which are centred around returning to homestead farming, "operation feed your self", encouraging schools and estate farming aimed at making Kwara State the food hub of the country.

Alhaji Atere, however, highlighted the need for the committee to focus more on schools and return the State to the  days when schools farming was encouraged and students engaged in healthy competition to out do each other on their farms which in turn made food available in large quantities for both students and their teachers. 

He advised that since the assignment of the committee was competitive, more focus on schools would enable the committee to get the desired result of making Kwara a state to reckon with in food production.

The committee also paid similar advocacy visits to the Ministries of Education, Health, Women Affairs, Local Government and SUBEB.

Other members of the technical committee on the entourage of the Permanent Secretary were the Director of Planning, Alhaji Surajudeen Alimi, the Director of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Abubakar Zakariyah, Mr Jokotola and Mr Francis Fatoye.

Maryam A. Abubakar

Information Officer

Min. of Communications.