By Lizzy Carr.
Chief Agric and Nutrition desk officer Bauchi State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mahmood Umar Bala has recommended the need for government to invest in climate smart agriculture, agroecology practices and efficient irrigation systems that can improve the resilience of farmers to withstand environmental and climate shocks.
This was contained in his presentation titled ‘Cadre Harmonise’ Analysis and identification of areas at risk and populations affected by food and nutrition insecurity in 26 states of Nigeria and the FCT at the State Committee on Food and (SCFN) second quarter meeting held in Bauchi.
Bala said between March to May 2024 ,no local government area in Bauchi State was classified in phase 4 which is emergency and phase 5 that is famine, but over 700.000 persons are in the crisis phase, while some 2 million persons are in stress phase.
” It is projected that between June to August half of Bauchi State population will be in the minimal phase if adequate Humanitarian assistance does not get to the populace”.
The report recommended that government should implement social protection law using the social register to identify and support conflict affected households and vulnerable persons.
Also he stressed the need to reposition agricultural sector with focus on the mechanization of agriculture in Bauchi, subsidized fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide and other farming inputs.
The Cadre Harmonise is a unifying consensual and rigorous tool that helps to produce relevant and transparent analysis of food and nutrition security situations.
The meeting of the State Committee on Food and Nutrition is to strengthen the coordination mechanism of SCFN for the delivery of multi sectoral intervention approach to nutrition in the state, and to assess the performance of nutrition indicators for better tracking of efforts and subsequent decisions making towards addressing the identified gaps and challenges.
Chairman of the Committee and permanent secretary ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multi lateral Coordination Jibrin Yusuf said the State is so passionate in improving the nutrition status of the citizens.
He added that all decisions from the meeting will be channel to the State Council on Food and Nutrition where policies are developed tailored towards addressing malnutrition.