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Tag: Food

  • Food and medicine in your flower beds (1)

    On December 10 last year, I was a guest speaker at a training programme in Lagos for women who wished to improve the health of members of their families, using herbs and medicinal food crops which grow in their gardens.

    These women are called URBAN GROWERS. The group is the brainchild of Mrs Sola Sowemimo, of Ope Farms, and her friend, Mrs Yinka Odukoya, of Dasyooh Farms.

    I remembered them all this morning while writing the introduction to this column. Two women had come to ask for permission to harvest some bitter leaves, which have overgrown their bounds in my flower beds, growing taller than the storey-building. Beside the Bitter leaf garden is a section where we grow plantain. The plantain, too, was due for a harvest. They were so big that everyone wondered how they came about. I have found myself explaining that we deposit all food wastes, including fish gills, at the flower bed. After a plantain plant has fruited, it replaces itself with many suckers. Then, we cut down the fruited plantain, cut the leaves and stem to pieces and leave them to form compost for the young suckers.

    I hope that you, too, would become an URBAN GROWER after you read this series…

    WOMEN are central figures in any home. Their husbands and children mill around them for about everything. When a man wishes to propose marriage to a woman, he wonders secretly or aloud if his life would be safe in her hands, and if she would be able to bring up their children the way he would like them brought up, if she would be a good manager of his finances, especially if they are small, if their home would be clean or tidy, if she would not cast out his friends and relations, if his marriage would not be a cage in which he is trapped…

    Deep thinking men think often about the creature that woman is. I believe that deep-thinking women wonder, also, about this subject. When my male friends and I get together, say, over drinks or a meal, and our discussions enter the mode of men’s talk and some of them begin to say a man holds the last card or the joker card over a woman, I quickly remind them of the mighty power a woman weilds over a man… as a foetus, the future man lived in her womb for about nine months, as a baby he sucked her breasts for goodness knows how long, as a baby she strapped him on her back and, as a man she passed him on to another woman who would now look after him as an overgrown baby. That usually ends our men’s talk discussion about this subject. For those among my friends who share with me deep beliefs about life, I quickly add: haven’t we been educated enough that woman is the deciding factor in Creation?

    What I have just said is a huge concept which is not the subject of this gathering. I leave it in the hands of the organiser of this meeting, Mrs Olusola Sowemimo.

    But in a way, we cannot separate it from why we are here today. We are here to discuss how women can take better care of the health of their families with plant medicines that grow on the grounds of their homes, or that they can plant in their gardens for this purpose.

    I wish to strengthen your interest in the work which, by now, you should have recognised was given to you by the Almighty Creator by briefly telling you about four women whose pictures keep flashing in my mind as I look at you and think about what you would do with this discussion when you return to your homes. The first woman is my maternal grandmother of blessed memory. She raised me from the age of nine when my mother died at childbirth to about the age of thirty when she herself left the flesh. If I was sick anywhere, anytime, I was sure to become well whenever I got home. Behind her earthen-pot of drinking water was always a bottle of gbogbonse epa Ijebu ( Ijebu-made all-purpose healing herbal potion). She taught us her grandchildren about REREN, that shiny, smallish green plant with small leaves which grows in the village around out-door bathrooms.  When a child develops high temperature, squeeze the leaves and rub the juice on the body. The heat is almost certain to subside immediately. As an adult, I used to eat these plant with banana or parboil it in a pot of rice on the stove after the heat has been turned off.

    The second woman is Mrs Michelle Obama, wife of the outgoing American President. What she did at the White House, official residence of the American President, seems to me to be the opposite of what Mrs Hillary Clinton did when her husband was President. President Clinton left the white House suffering from coronary artery blockages. This meant that the arteries which supply his heart with blood were blocked by cholesterol or some other matter. His heart was almost failing, falling apart. The blockage was about 90percent.  He had to undergo a by-pass surgery to be able to continue to live. Today, he looks much, much older than his age. He made a remarkable statement after the surgery which touched me deep down my bones till this day. He said his regrets about his health when he was in the White House was that he didn’t “eat well”. His diet was largely meat pies, hamburgers, hotdogs and, of course, tea or coffee or soft drinks.

    President Obama cuts a different picture from former President Clinton. Mrs Obama turned the flower gardens and lawns of the White House into gardens where she grew organic foods and herbs. She gave her husband organic foods. She got school children to participate in the cultivation of these gardens. Her goal in doing this was to inculcate in the young Americans the need to eat well. She believed that if this culture caught on, these children would take the message back home to their parents and, in due course, Americans would emerge from junk food eaters and a sickly people to a health-eating population and a healthy people. This is the role I believe our Creator gave to you women, which Mrs Sowemimo, through this programme,  is trying to remind you about.

    Holda

    You may not have heard about this woman, the fourth of four women i said earlier i would talk about. She was the wife of a leader of mankind in the early days of human existence on earth. The reports we have of her is that, while her husband went hunting for animals and fruits for food for his family and household, she spent her own time gathering herbs for the strengthening of their bodies and health. Her work suggests the back-up roles of caring and tending to which women should devote their time and energy.

    So, which plants do I wish to suggest you grow in the garden and around the house for the health of your families health? One of them is…Carica Papaya.

    Carica Papaya

    The popular name for it in Nigeria is Pawpaw. Many years ago, I used to go out with my friends to enjoy goat meat or fish pepper soup. Goat meat or whole fish is a load of protein on the digestive system. We drank lots of beer which diluted the digestive enzymes, making it difficult for the protein to digest. Undigested protein ended up in sludges on which micro-organisms fed, producing gas, toxins, bloating, abdominal distention and pain, if not diseases of the digestive tract such as constipation, diverticulosis, colitis (inflammation) or piles. Some unlucky people end up with colon cancer. With all these possibilities at the back of my mind, I went out with the boys with pawpaw leaves in my pocket. These leaves, like the seeds of the pawpaw fruit or the sap from the unripe fruit or the tree trunk, contains an enzyme known as Papain. Papain chemically resembles Pepsin, the digestive enzyme in our stomachs which digests proteins there. So, eating pawpaw leaves with the goat meat or fish helped to digest the protein in them and keep my system clear.

    American Indians discovered the power in pawpaw leaves a long time ago. If they killed some animals for food while hunting, they cut the body into pieces, pick pawpaw leaves and beat them to pulp to get them to ooze juice,  and then wrap the animal meat in these bruised and bleeding pawpaw leaves. The result was that the meat became tenderized or pre-cooked before they got home. Since the papain oozed digested proteins, it also digested any germ or micro-organism present in the meat because they, too, are made of proteins. With this knowledge, the food and other industries began to use papain as a tenderizer. About 80percent of the beer brewed in the United States is said to be treated with papain to keep it clear and germ-free. In your kitchens,  you can tenderize tough meat, if you still eat meat, with the sap of the unripe fruit,  or grind the seeds, which also contain papain,  and add the juice or paste to your cooking. This papain-rich paste can be added to honey or Blackstrap molasses and, added to water, taken with a meal or on empty stomach or in-between meals (the space between two meals) to aid digestion or kill germs, such as those of typhoid. In Europe, this sap is dried and sold as Papain tablets for these purposes.

    There is no part of the pawpaw plant that is useless. When I was younger and had the energy for it, I grew plenty of carica papayas and harvested them all young before fruiting. I ground the leaves, flowers, stalk, trunk and roots to paste along with unripe pawpaw fruits from other sources. I dried the paste in a machine and made it all into a powder product called CARIPARLS, an acronym for Carica papaya roots, leaves and seeds. We are helped to understand the medicinal uses of this plant more by the website www.drugs.com:

    “Papaya has been used widely in folk medicine for many ailments…the juice for warts, corns, cancers, tumors, and thickened skin. The roots or their extracts for cancers of the uterus, syphilis, the tropical infection, hemorrhoids, and to remove mineral concretions in the urine; the unripe fruit as a mild laxative or diuretic, and to stimulate lactation, labour. The ripe fruit for rheumatism and alkalinising the urine; the seeds for intestinal worms or to stimulate lactation, the leaves as a poultice for nervous pains and elephantoid growth, or smoked for asthma relief; and the latex for psoriasis, ring worm, indigestion or applied externally as an antiseptic or to heal burns and scalds, or applied to the cervix to contract the uterus.

    The unripe fruit and the latex are contraindicated for pregnant women as they may induce abortion.”

    The website adds:

    “In developing countries, the traditional use of papaya is being investigated as an alternative treatment for a range of ailments. Carica papaya has a wide range of porported medicinal properties for treatment of diabetes,  as birth control, as an antiseptic,  anti-microbial, or diuretic,  to control parasite, reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, and lower Cholesterol. While there are limited data to support most of these uses, there is some evidence for healing bed sores and other wounds and in treating intestinal worms in womans”.

    Banana peel

    Lately, I have found myself encouraging people to eat banana peel for its health benefits. One woman was complaining at a local food store that #300 plantain could feed only her three children with nothing left for herself and her husband. Another thought the change economy was too harsh on the pocket and the kitchen. I remembered that, in the United States and some European countries now, plantain and banana peels have been recognised to be nutritionally superior to the fruits they protect and are being eaten as such.

    Every woman can grow banana sucker in a small space at the back of the house. I started with five suckers of banana and plantain which, over 10years, have not stopped regenerating themselves to provide me food and medicine.

    The website www.stylecraze.com educates us:

    “The flesh of the banana is rich in many nutrients and carbohydrates.  It is high in Vitamin B6, B12, Magnesium and Potassium. The sugar content is the highest when the banana peel turns black. Let us quickly see the top benefits of this gift of Nature.

    “ONE…Sparkling teeth. Rub the banana peel everyday for a week on your teeth for about a minute. This actually results in teeth whitening, which can cost a lot of money otherwise.

    “TWO…Removes warts. The banana peel helps in removing warts and eliminates the occurrence of new ones. For this, simply rub the peel on the affected area or tie the peel overnight on it. This is one of the simplest ways to use a banana peel for the skin.

    “THREE…Eat them. Banana peels can also be eaten. You can find amazing Indian recipes that use banana peels. They are also used to tender chicken.

    “FOUR…Cures pimples. Just massage banana peels on your face and body for five minutes everyday to cure pimples. The result should be visible within a week. Keep applying the peels until the acne disappears.

    “FIVE…Reduces wrinkles. The banana peel helps to keep your skin hydrated. Add an egg yolk to a mashed banana peel. Apply this mixture on your face and leave it for five minutes. Wash off after five minutes.

    “SIX…Pain reliever. Apply the banana peel directly on the painful area. Leave it for 30 minutes till the pain is gone. A mixture of vegetable oil and banana peel also helps in pain relief.

    “SEVEN…Heals psoriasis. Apply the pell on the psoriasis-affected area. The banana peel has moisturizing properties and also reduces itchiness. It will quickly heal psoriasis and you will quickly see results within no time.

    “EIGHT…Heals bites by bugs. Massage the peel on the mosquito bite to get instant relief from the itching and pain.

    “NINE… Shoes, leather, silver polish. Rub the banana peel on shoes, leather and silver articles to make them shine instantly.

    “TEN…UV protection. Banana peel helps in protecting the eyes from the harmful UV rays. Make sure you leave the peel under the sun before rubbing the banana peel on your eyes. It is also proven to reduce the risk of cataract.”

    What interests me most is the food value of the banana peel. The website www.treehugger.com says of this:

    “Americans eat 12 billion bananas a year: The most widely consumed food in America is the beloved banana-it is also a fruit that comes with a rather significant peel. And just imagine, billions of those banana peels end up in the trash…when they could be eaten instead. While that may come strange to those of us in the United States, people in other parts of the world have been eating banana peels all along. Yes, they are fibrous and a bit bitter but there are easy ways to get around that. And aside from sidestep ping some of that prodigious waste, banana peels also have nutritional appeal.  (The skin) contains high amounts of Vitamin B6 and B12, as well as Magnesium and Potassium. It also contains some fiber and protein.

    ‘Sandego-based nutritionist Laura Flores tells live Science.

    ‘Banana peel is eaten in many parts of the world, though it is not common in the West,’ she adds.

    “An article in the Journal of APPLIED BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY,  also noted that banana peels have various bioactive compounds like Polyphenols, carotenoids, and others.”

  • Food prices to go up, says expert

    Farmers’ Development Union (FADU) Programme  Coordinator, Victor Olowe has alerted of food price increase in the year.

    According to him, factors that would cause increases in food prices have not been resolved. He listed these as   speculation in agricultural commodity markets by sellers.

    He called for increase in farm production.

    Though most farmers are ready to boost production, he said the institutions, the government as well as management of land make this impossible.

    He cautioned that high food prices were likely to continue except there were  efforts to strengthen small-scale farming.

    With climate change, he expressed fears that some sectors of the economy could see short rainfall early this year while the rest of the country will experience low or no rainfall which will affect farming and push up the cost of food.

    There is also serious concern with the prospect of labour shortages in the farms. Growers are grappling with high cost of hiring labour, adding that the situation is critical and demands action if growers are to be competitive.

    He noted that some of the traditional migrant labour are ‘aging,’ while  other farm workers have moved on to other jobs.

    Growers are finding it difficult to get agric workers at lower costs, he added.

    Labour issues would continue to hamper production, he warned.

  • Health, food concerns at NYSC camps

    Health, food concerns at NYSC camps

    Three deaths in a week at three National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps during the ongoing 2016 Batch B (Stream 1) orientation have sparked concerns about the state of health and other facilities in those camps.  Some Corps members tell their stories 

    The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says it will probe the death of three Corps members in three camps during the 2016 Batch B (Stream 1) orientation.

    Ifedolapo Oladepo died in Kano, Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi in Bayelsa, and Monday Asuquo Ukeme in Zamfara.

    Their death raised questions about the quality of healthcare, residential facilities and food as well as sanitary condition in the camps.

    Reacting to their death, which occurred last week, the NYSC Director-General, Brig-Gen Suleiman Kazaure, said all orientation camps were provided with adequate health facilities and personnel to meet emergency needs and make referrals where  necessary.

    Presenting a report to the Minser of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, in Abuja on Tuesday, Kazaure also defended the NYSC’s response to treating Ifedolapo.

    He said: “There are no student doctors as all athe doctors are fully certified by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

    “The camp clinic in Kano orientation camp, as in all the camp clinics nationwide, runs 24-hour service.  Hence, she received atention at 3am on November 28 when her friends brought her from the hostel.  The camp clinic in Kano was well stocked with essential drugs for a non-surgical hospital.”

    Kazaure added that Ifedolapo died of renal sepsis, an illness she must have had before coming to camp.

    However, many Corps members are not happy with the state of facilities in their camps. They complained about lack of drugs and inadequate care in clinics.

    A Batch ‘A’ corps member at Paikoro Camp, Niger State,  told The Nation that camp doctors, mostly corps members, neglected her friend.

    “Doctors in camp are so carefree maybe because they are Corps members like you. They behave anyhow. My friend almost died in camp because of this same negligence.  She went to the sick bay to complain of serious chest pain. She was told to go for parade first.  She returned from parade with the same pain. The queue was something else. She begged to be attended to immediately as the pain was severe. Her plea fell on deaf ears and by the time she was attended to, she was given just a pain reliever.

    “They did not even try to diagnose the cause of the pain. When she went back to her room and laid down on her bed, top bunk, she could not talk anymore. Before she could call her friend on the next bunk, she found herself on the floor. She fell from the bunk and was rushed to the camp clinic. That was when they started running up and down.  She was admitted over night while her family was contacted. However she was later redeployed,” she said.

    Another corps member serving in Lagos, who simply called himself Opeyemi, said the clinics were not equipped to make diagnosis.

    “Considering the facilities, I work at the camp clinic. We only have first aid materials so we can only stabilise and not actually diagnose or treat,” he said.

    Chioma, who is at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Kubwa, Abuja, said the clinic lacked drugs.

    “On the first day on the field, after registration, they announced that all corps members that were ill should register at the sick bay. They have never joined us for the rigorous trainings.

    “The camp clinic is always under- stocked. The people awarded the contract to stock it with emergency drugs always tended to do away with the money and subsequently the clinic waits for philanthropists to donate drugs.

    “A pharmaceutical company donated drugs to us recently and we found it all stolen the next day.  It is quite sad,” said Chioma.

    A Corps member serving in Kano State where the late Ifedolapo died said drugs are not enough.

    “We don’t have good health facilities here at all because they don’t have drugs. Drugs are never readily available so most times, when people fall sick, the camp lets them go home. Even very basic drugs are not available. Others just manage themselves the way they can,” she said.

    The situation is not very different in Edo State NYSC Camp located in Okada.

    A Corps member said she could not get drugs to treat her cold from the clinic.

    “Our clinic is not so good. The corper doctors attending to us are good but they don’t have enough drugs. When I came to camp, I had cold and I went to the clinic. They did not have the drugs the doctor recommended so they just gave me one dose of antibiotics. Of course the cold did not go. I still have that cough till now and I have gone to the clinic repeatedly. Sometimes, they will tell me to come back tomorrow that they don’t have the drugs I need today,” she said.

    However, the situation is not so bad in some other states where corps members said they got treated in camp.

    Obinna Uzoke, a batch ‘A’ Corps member in Lagos State, said he got adequate medical attention when he needed it.

    Uzoke  said: “I camped at the Ipaja camp. Our camp officials were very attentive and supportive. Our needs or complaints were attended to as soon as we voiced out. The camp soldiers were also kind, they were not too strict.

    “I got injured in camp while participating in the athletic competition. i had bruises on both legs and i was immediately attended to. i was rushed to the camp clinic where corps members doctors attended to me though they were supervised by real medical personnel. I also noticed that all drugs required to treat me were readily available.”

    Ibukun Durosinmi who is at the Nasarawa NYSC camp, said the testimonies have been good.

    “Ever since I came here, I have not been to the clinic before.  But those who went there only told me that the clinic attend to those with mild cases such as malaria, fever, and other minor illness. When there are emergencies, I learn they take them to hospitals outside the camp,” she said.

    Bisi Zainab who is currently serving in Jigawa State, said she was well catered for at the clinic too.

    “I remember when I took ill, I was quickly attended to. The drug may not be perfect but at least it cured my illness,” Zainab said.

    Dayo Johnson (not real names) from the Ogun State camp in Sagamu, said the camp clinic runs well.

    “The clinic is good. I have seen occasions where they have sent patients in an ambulance to the Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, due to their conditions,” he said.

    To address the problems with camp clinics, Dr O. Abiola of Anchors Diagnostic Centre, Ikorodu, advised the NYSC to upgrade the clinics to go beyond first aid.

    :The NYSC should focus on administering full treatment aside applying first aid alone otherwise it should just ensure only those medically fit should be in camp,” she said.

    Former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos and the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Prof Tolu Odugbemi, advised that apart from providing medical facilities, the NYSC should screen corps members.

    “There should be proper pre-entry medical checks for the grduates going for NYSC,” he said.

    Beyond investigating health issues, corps members also want the DG to know that camp accommodation and toilet facilities, as well as the food, are not the best.  However, the situation differs from camp to camp.

    The toilets and the food are a sore point for many corps members.

    A corps member in the Lagos camp said inadequate toilet facilities forces corps members to practice open defecation, a health and environmental risk.

    “The condition of our toilets is very bad so most people result to shot put – that is using nylon to defecate and throwing it away – because they are afraid of getting infection from the toilets.

    “Now the faeces are thrown all around that we perceive them even in our hostel halls.

    “Last Sunday, after church service we were asked to clean our surroundings. A pit was dug and each corps member was required to throw some of these nylons that contain faeces into the pit using different long sticks. Do you know the implication of that? Somewhere already removing maggots and smelling terribly! Some corps members were actually vomiting. But the soldiers surrounded us and made sure we did it.”

    The camp officials are nice and the clinic is functional at the Okuku camp in Kogi State.  But Mary, a corps member, said “shot put” is not strange in her camp either because the toilets are dirty.

    “The toilet facilities are very poor. They are very dirty and cannot even be used by most of corps members in my halls. So we rely on shot put,” she said.

    While Dayo says the Ogun State camp looks good on the outside, he said overcrowding has become its bane.

    He said: “The hostels are jam-packed. In my hostel, there are about 50 double bunks, which translates to about 100 people and our room does not have even one fan. We only have three doors and nine windows. It is very stuffy. We find it difficult to sleep at night because of the heat. Also, the toilets are so bad. They have people who come to clean them every day but that does not help. The toilets are too few for thousands of people we have here. They have pit latrines and water closets, yet people keep developing different infections every day.”

    But the toilets in Kano State camps do not seem to be so bad.

    Ibukun in Kano said: “Honestly things are generally okay here.  The environment is good. Our toilet and bathrooms are also okay though not perfect.”

    Zainab however said corps members are also to blame for the poor state of the toilets in the Jigawa State camp.

    “The toilets are usually clean but we often mess it up and that makes it increasingly difficult for some of us to want to use it,” she said.

    Unpalatable meals seem to be common in most camps such that many corps members rely on buying food from the Mammy Market set up with each camp.

    Mary complained about the food served in the Kogi camp, saying; “The food we are given is very poor.  It can even make you sick if your immune system is not strong so most people rely on food sold in the Mammy market,” she said.

    Dayo, like Mary, also prefers to buy his food than eat what the camp’s kitchen provides.

    “I don’t eat camp food, I buy food from Mammy market and the food there is quite nice,” he said.

     

  • Africa to spend $110b on food imports by 2025, says IITA DG

    Africa to spend $110b on food imports by 2025, says IITA DG

    Africa will spend  $110 billion in  food imports by 2025 because of the neglect of agriculture, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Director-General Dr Nteranya Sanginga has said.

    Addressing members of the Board of Trustees of IITA and researchers during the Partnership for Development Week (P4D Week) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, he said failure to invest in agriculture would compound unemployment among youths.

    Sanginga said though some African countries have realised that agriculture is important but were not investing enough in it.

    “Take for instance the commitment to invest at least 10 percent of national budgets in agriculture. Not many countries are meeting this goal,”  Sanginga said.

    He praised the African Development Bank (AfDB) for coming up with Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) to transform agriculture on the continent.

    TAAT  is the  initiative of  AfDB and the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) under the Feed Africa Initiative to drive agriculture development on the continent.

    Through  TAAT,  the bank aims to invest more than $800 million to the agricultural sector. The funds would be channelled into upscaling of proven innovations that will improve the fortunes of farmers and address the twin problem of food insecurity and unemployment.

    Sanginga also reiterated IITA’s commitment to supporting African smallholder farmers in the context of agribusiness such that agriculture transcends food for the fork to money in the pocket.

    According to him, IITA would continue to respond to the needs of Africa by developing innovations that will provide answers to Africa’s food insecurity. To this end, IITA will be demonstrating its scientific leadership not only in terms of qualitative research in the lab, but also impact in farmers’ fields.

    Sanginga, who began his second tenure earlier this year, said IITA’s priority for the future would focus on research, capacity development, partnerships, impact at scale, and most importantly delivery.

  • ‘Food industry under pressure to develop clean products’

    Promasidor Nigeria Limited Chief Keith  Richard has said the food industry is under pressure to develop clean products.

    At the just-concluded CEO Roundtable in Lagos, Richard  said stakeholders across the value chain, including producers, primary and value-added processors, retailers and distributors, needed an enabling environment to impact on the market through sale of good food products and farming practices.

    According to him, the food industry’s productivity growth has declined relative to major competitors due to the regulatory regime and gaps that hinder operators from developing and using innovation and new technologies.

    Urgent measures, he stressed,  were needed to produce food not only for export, but also for domestic consumption.

    Richard said the food industry was resource intensive, which puts local supply chains under greater pressure  to create a sustainable food supply for Nigerians.

    He explained that there was   huge potential to attract more global investment and funding into the Nigeria markets but the government needs to build partnerships between industry to anticipate new challenges and model potential solutions.

  • Expert canvasses policy on food security, nutrition

    A lecturer with the Department of Agronomy, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Prof Julius Ipadeola Olaifa has said lack of coherent national food security and nutrition policy has serious implications on human survival, national growth and development.

    In a chat with Southwest Report, Prof Olaifa, who is a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA) stated that if coherent national food security and nutrition policy the policy is put in place, it will be capable of transforming communities into healthy and productive food producers. This, he said, will ensure reliable and consistent access to affordable nutritious food.

    He pointed out that hunger has devastating effects on the health and economic productivity of more than 80 per cent of Nigerians, adding that even those with access to food often suffer

    terribly from malnutrition.

    “Children not only suffer from the effect of malnutrition, but also from increased susceptibility to disease and other health risks such as neonatal disorders, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria.  Under nutrition is the underlying cause of maternal mortality each year,” he said.

    He further said hunger and malnutrition also affect economic development in near and long-term, while illness, hunger and the need to care for ill children reduces income, particularly for

    women.

    Seeking a paradigm shift in issues of food import, he urged the Federal Government to spend less on food importation, saying that government should not be rhetorical but pragmatic in reducing food import bill in order to guarantee food security for Nigerians.

    “What Nigerians need is serious approach to revitalise the agricultural sector as is being done by the present administration.

    “Imagine billions of Naira wasted annually on importation of wheat, when the chain values of cassava is yet to be fully exploited, let alone other cash crop such as mango.  A lot of natural and agricultural resources abound in Oke-Ogun areas of Oyo State, for instance, but the government is not tapping them.

    “This is why it is imperative for state governments to rehabilitate all their farm settlements, in order to improve agriculture. These resources alone can generate employment for thousands of jobless youths,” he said.

    On how to transform the agricultural sector, Olaifa suggested increasing household access to agricultural inputs and credit, improving, natural resource management, and linking agricultural

    outputs with local, regional, and national markets.

    “Some of the ways to transform the agricultural sector are reduction of livelihood vulnerability, working with communities to increase access to water, as well as developing customised plans to ensure availability, ensuring that access and utilisation of food is stable and sustainable over a long period of time.

    “There should be a sustainable social welfare policy that would address problems that might arise when markets do not provide adequate mechanisms to deal with economic uncertainties.

    This, according to him, will ascertain the nature of the risks individuals experience in a given society, in order to tailor policies towards meeting these risks in a sustainable fashion.

    “Part of the considerations should be based on the fact that agriculture and informal economies are very important because they account for 70 per cent of employment for the teeming population.

    “This implies that social welfare programme should address issues on income uncertainties due to the fortuity of informal activities, which fluctuate considerably.”

    He lamented the limited coverage of social security systems in the country, which he noted raises serious equity issues, even as he said societal valuable resources and efforts are often targeted at small and privileged segment of the population.

    He said: “The Nigerian population is young, and is expected to remain like that over the period between 40 and 50 years.

    “This age structure affects the behaviour and demand of social security services.  But alas, budgetary allocation for agriculture ought to have been increased from its present 30 per cent to 70 per cent.  If this age structure can be properly co-opted and coordinated into agriculture, it will not only prop-up employment generation, but will also reduce crimes, restiveness and other anti-social activities in our society.”

    Olaifa stated that there is hardly any state in the country that is not effectively productive.

    “Agricultural production is sustained by peasant farmers. We have good weather, no global warming, coupled with ample rainfall. These are what we need for production of crops such as cassava, maize and yam. We have fishery and poultry products in the Southwest. What of South-south and the Southeast that produce oil palm.  Equally too are the onion, pepper, goats, and sheep produced in quantity in the North and moved to the South. What of pepper, carrots, and others?’’

    “Politicians play politics with rice. They assume it is the only food commodity in the country. That is wrong. They have forgotten yams and plantains, which are produced locally, From Lagos to Maiduguri, Port Harcourt to Enugu and Ibadan, where is yam not taken as food? Yet, yam farmers across the country are not given the kind of attention given to rice until recently. The present administration is interested in rice, and is pragmatically improving its production locally,” he said.

    Prof. Olaifa, however, pointed out that the major problem confronting the country currently is food processing.

    ‘’What have we developed from yam, cassava and plantain, for instance, other than garri, fufu, and chips? It is the present generation that started garri, fufu, and even the chips. We should develop new products from these commodities. China, Malaysia and Indonesia have no other crops other than rice. They have thousands of products developed from rice. That is what we need now,” he stated.

  • ‘Mushrooms can tackle food insecurity’

    It is about time we embraced the mushroom. It can get us out of the woods.

    That about sums up Omor-efosa Osemwegie’s economic prognosis as the country grapples with recession.

    A professor of Mycology/Plant Pathology, Osemwegie has urged the Nigerian government to embrace the production of mushrooms as a biotechnology tool in tackling food security challenges in the country.

    Prof Osemwegie added that the production of mushrooms is a huge global business estimated to have been increasing from 2.18 million tonnes in 1988 to 3.5 million tonnes in 2013.

    He said this in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State at the second inaugural lecture of Landmark University.

    The lecture was entitled “Mushrooms renaissance: Biodiversity, ethnomycological and ago-perceptions.”

    The lecturer who doubles as the Head, Department of Biological Sciences at the university said that mushroom is a major revenue earner for many developed countries.

    He added that over seven billion dollars in revenue is being shared among many of these nations.

    “While this statistics correlate with that of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), China alone according to the United States International Trade Commission controls about 87 percent of global mushroom production,” Prof Osemwegie said.

    He asked, “Where is Nigeria or even any African nation on the world list of the top 20 mushroom producers?”

    He said, “Cultivation of mushrooms unlike plant production requires less space, little or no worries with soil state, disease threat, mechanization, farm inputs and meteorological data but rather permits flexible manipulation of the environmental conditions for the healthy

    growth of mushrooms.

    “This relies on the use of diverse locally generated waste bases. Similarly, edible and medicinal mushrooms vary across cultures. Nevertheless, literature is replete with suggestions that include

    mushrooms chemical architecture conforming with the nature of ambient environmental chemical characteristics; physiological variations among races and cultures and traditional beliefs from wild mushrooms hunting knowledge heritage or folklore that engenders fear certain types of mushrooms.”

    He said mushrooms grow fast with short cultivation time and attractive turnovers; it requires only small starting capital and low cost implements, rents and basic raw materials.

    He added that mushrooms production “involves a process that is mainly organic from farm-to-fork and minimises the application of synthetic chemical inputs or expensive antibiotics; it may be practiced in home/home-yard or small land space as a small-scale business; mushrooms are globally priced health and energy foods with scientific implications in disease mitigation, longevity and reproductive health and they use organic wastes of industrial, agricultural and domestic origins as substrates (raw materials) and double as a partial process of waste management.”

    He said that “while a small scale mushroom business is tied to season here and some West African nations, it is available all year round in many developed countries of the world for cuisines and industrial processing to pharmaceutical products.”

  • FAO: declining food prices may affect farmers

    FAO: declining food prices may affect farmers

    Declining prices can thwart international efforts to eradicate hunger and  poverty unless steps are taken to guarantee decent incomes and livelihoods for small-scale producers, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da-Silva has  said.

    Globally, food prices are believed to be back to their long-term downward trend in real terms, as supply growth outpaces demand.

    This follows the price surges experienced during the 2008 to 20 12 and a prolonged period of volatility in food markets, Graziano da Silva told Agriculture and Trade Ministers and other government officials and experts, attending a high-level meeting on agricultural commodity prices at FAO’s headquarters in Rome.

    “As policy makers, you are confronted by the challenge of keeping nutritious food affordable for the poor, while ensuring good incentives for producers, including family farmers,” he added.

    “Low food prices reduce the incomes of farmers, especially poor family farmers who produce staple food in the developing countries. This cut in the flow of cash into rural communities also reduces the incentives for new investments in production, infrastructure and services,” the FAO Director-General said.

    He underscored the need to consider the current decline in agricultural commodity prices in the context of the international community’s efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

    In a video address to the meeting, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said that “under the right circumstances” trade provides people with opportunities to join global markets and helps to create incentives for producers to invest and innovate.

    The “historic decision” struck in Nairobi in December 2015 by WTO members to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, according to Azevêdo will “help level the playing field in agriculture markets, to the benefit of farmers and exporters in developing and least-developed countries.”

    For his part, Graziano da Silva pointed to the potential of trade in contributing to global food security and better nutrition, specifically underlining its potential role as an “adaptation tool” to climate change.  Countries that are projected to experience decreasing yields and production due to climate change, will have to resort to the global markets to feed their populations.

  • Push to make Southwest regional food powerhouse

    Push to make Southwest regional food powerhouse

    Regional economic growth is needed to reduce poverty and improve food security in the Southwest, some experts have said.

    They spoke at the Southwest Agriculture Summit (SWAS) held at the Civic Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Its aim was to bring together states in the region to consolidate growth in the sector.

    The theme was Achieving an agro-powered regional economy.

    Stakeholders said harnessing regional strength in farming and food production would enhance sufficiency in the region.

    The event was co-hosted by governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos); Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo);  Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun).

    Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission Director-General Dipo Famakinwa stressed the need for stakeholders to approach the agriculture revitalisation effort from a prism of ‘One Bloc” as advocated by the commission.

    According to him, it is only by working together that the states could maximally deploy and benefit from their vast agricultural potential.

    He noted that the political leadership of the region was developing a strategy to deliver sustainable agri-food resilience, encompassing the whole farming spectrum from arable, horticulture, livestock, value from waste and innovative end-user training.

    Declaring the event open,  Ajimobi stated it was essential for stakeholders to discuss the survival strategy for the region.  “Now is the time to go back and reconnect with our glorious heritage. Now is the time to let go of our terrible dependence on the unsustainable oil and gas resources – two commodities with expiry date”, he said.

    Aregbesola said the forum would allow for knowledge sharing on regional policies that could be adopted to foster synergy and further improve the agricultural value chain. “As a matter of fact, what is happening here today is that the states and other practitioners and stakeholders have opted to share lessons on what has worked and what has not with a view to seeing how some of these success stories can lend themselves to a region-wide adoption,” Aregbesola said.

    In his keynote address, Senior Lecturer, Lagos Business School, Dr Doyin Salami, gave an overview of the state of agriculture in Nigeria with emphasis on the Southwest.

    He noted that oil had failed the nation and it was high time the country developed agriculture to ensure economic diversification.

    He said Nigeria scored  39 per cent  in food security matters in the Global Food Security Index, while Mexico and Brazil scored 65 per cent  and 69 per cent.

    In the past, he said, 70 per cent  of Nigerians were involved in agriculture. But today, 97 per cent of foreign earnings are from oil.

    In 2013, he said Nigeria earned over $80 billion from oil. However, this year, the estimated income would not exceed $30 billion. Nevertheless, there’s hope in agriculture as one of the five sectors that will continue to grow despite the recession. He also stated that there were three requirements to ensure that the system was revitalised. These include: human capital, availability of technology and resources.

    He praised AgroNigeria and the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission for the epoch-making event.

    Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ms Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru noted that oil, which had beclouded Nigeria’s planning process, would soon dry up. She lamented that Nigeria as a country has forgotten her heritage. ‘’When that oil which is taking our attention dries up, then we will think and concentrate on the most important alternative,” said Umoru, who is also a farmer.

    The Chief Executive, AgroNigeria, Mr Richard-Mark Mbaram, expressed that it became necessary to hold such a summit in the spirit of agricultural renaissance in the country. ‘’We have gathered experts and stakeholders in agribusiness to brainstorm and discuss agriculture. The ultimate objective is to trigger a new development paradigm that will really have the sub-national governments and institutions have a major contribution in the con-ceptualisation, formation and implementation process of our country’s agricultural policies”.

    The AgroNigeria boss pointed out that the private sector is also being galvanised to “play a more involved role in auditing policy implementation in agriculture by identifying the stress areas and proffering realistic and practical solution to same”.

    Facilitator, Agric and Food Security Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Alhaji Fatai Afolabi, explained the different partnership models within which agribusiness can thrive.

    He noted that privatisation if properly done,  holds the key to turning erstwhile moribund agri-businesses in the southwest into viable entities – citing Okomu Oil Palm Company and the Okitipupa Oil Palm Companies as instances

  • Chibok girls: we stayed without food for 40 days

    Chibok girls: we stayed without food for 40 days

    How my daughter got a baby, by father

     Jubilation at reunion

    It was another occasion for tears of joy to flow when parents reunited with the 21 freed Chibok schoolgirls.

    Yesterday, a thanksgiving service was held at the Directorate of State Services (DSS) facility in Abuja, where the girls have been kept since last Thursday when they returned.

    The girls spoke about their ordeal in the hands of the Boko Haram terrorists and how they lost hope of ever returning to their families.

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Women Affairs Hajiya Jummai Alhassan, Chairman of Chibok Local Government Council, Mr Yaga Yarakawa, Chairman of Abducted Chibok Girls’ Parents Association, Mr Yakubu Nkaki, and a member of the Chibok community in Abuja, Mr Hosea Tsambido, attended the service.

    Gloria Dame, who spoke on behalf of the girls after the service, recollected how they went without food for “one month and 10 days’’ in the bush.

    Speaking in Hausa, Gloria, who is Number 139 on the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement’s list of abducted girls,  said their survival in captivity was an act of God.

    “I did not know that a day like this will come that we will be dancing and giving thanks to God among people.

    “For one month and 10 days we stayed without food. I narrowly escaped bomb blast in the forest.

    “We are praying to God to touch the heart of Boko Haram to repent and we are calling on Nigerians to pray and fast for the release of our remaining ones in captivity,’’ she said.

    While the service was going on, the parents of the freed girls arrived at the venue and were reunited with their loved ones after two and a half years with their abductors.

    As soon as they arrived, emotions took over as tears of joy rolled down the eyes of parents and girls.

    Tears flowed freely as parents took turns to identify their daughters, while one woman simply carried her daughter on her back in happiness.

    Mohammed warned against comments which could jeopardise the release of the remaining girls.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari had proved critics wrong by securing the release of the girls.

    He said: “There are many reckless analysts and commentators who are not helping the situation. We still have many of our children in captivity.

    “Therefore we have to be careful with the kind of comments that we make. We must not make comments that will make the release of these girls difficult or impossible.”

    Mohammed, who quoted from the Scriptures (Those who are with us are more than those who are with them), said those who doubted the sincerity and commitment of the administration to the safe release and the reunion of the abducted Chibok girls with their parents were disappointed.

    He added: “When the President said the Boko Haram saga will not be closed until all the girls abducted have been released and reunited with their families safely, those who doubted did not believe us so we thank God this day has come.”

    He appealed to the parents of the girls who are yet to be freed to continue to exercise patience.

    He said:  “This is the beginning and we are very optimistic that very soon another batch bigger than this will be released. I want to assure you that these negotiations are ongoing even as we speak.”

    The Chairman of the Parents of the Abducted Chibok School Girls, Yakubu Nkeki, re-echoed the Minister’s plea by appealing to the people to stop spreading rumours, particularly on the social media, that will put the lives of the girls at risk.

    He debunked some reports alleging that 18 of the 21 freed girls are pregnant and denied that the girls were radicalised by Boko Haram.

    The Chairman of Chibok Local Government Council, said the release of the girls was “historic’’ and the Chibok community at home and in the Diaspora were happy about the development.

    Yarakawa said contrary to views of some Nigerians, the 21 freed girls were the actual Chibok Secondary School girls kidnapped by Boko Haram.

    “Before their abduction, I was involved in supervising their feeding which was organised by the Borno State Secondary Schools Feeding System. So I know them very well.

    “These are the real girls and you can see when their parents came, you see their joy, it manifest naturally.

    “This is enough to tell you that it is a reality and anybody who say different things or doubting, may be the person has a different agenda altogether,’’ he said.

    Yarakawa appealed to the government to put all necessary machinery in place to ensure the release of the other girls.

    Nkeki thanked President Buhari for summoning the courage and the political will that eventually led to the release of the abducted girls.

    Dr. Shiktra Kwali, who delivered the sermon at the thanksgiving service, told the girls that as they start a new life in freedom, they should not allow the experience of the past to weigh them down, and urged them to remain steadfast in serving the Lord, who has not forsaken them even in captivity.

    Many ministers of God, including the President of the Church of Brethren in Nigeria (EYN), Reverend Joel Bilili, offered prayers for the girls.

    The high-point of the occasion was the reunion between the parents and

    their daughters.

    The ceremony ended with an identification parade, as each of the freed girls identified her parents who in turn made brief comments, with many of them praising President. Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring the safe release of the girls.

    Some leaders of the BBOG movement who were shut out of the event expressed amazement that “some people” are too desperate to make political gains out of the entire situation.

    “Our eyes are on the goal and not the glitz of photo opportunities,” Dr. Emman Shehu, one of the BBOG leaders said.