COVID-19: IITA urges govt. to ensure food security

As Nigeria continues to battle the raging COVID-19, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, has urged government at all levels to ensure adequate food and nutrition security.

The IITA Director-General, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, made the call in an interview with our reporter in Ibadan on Monday.

He said while Nigeria continued to adhere to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation in fighting COVID -19, it should also ensure that agrifood systems continued functioning.

Sanginga enjoined governments to have a plan in place for ensuring food and nutrition security.

“Let farmers farm, traders trade, input dealers deal, and sellers sell; implement social distancing and improve hygiene measures along the value chain but keep domestic and international food markets working,” he said.

Sanginga also advised government to continue to invest in agricultural research delivery to ensure that agriculture emerged a major sustainable driver of economic and social development in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to him, IITA’s research products in the 50 years of working with governments and national system partners in sub-Saharan Africa showed that agriculture could be a profitable business that would help ensure food security and health of Africans.

“Impacts of research include higher yields of important food crops and staples, continuous supply of good quality planting materials and seeds, less losses due to pests and diseases on crops, better soil health as a result of practicing good agricultural practices, among others,” he said.

He added that government could work with organisations such as IITA to ensure that food production and the operation of food value chains were facilitated, safeguarded and even strengthened under crises conditions such as now.

The director general urged the people to always eat a balanced meal with carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals as well as keep healthy, especially at a time of lockdown to avoid weakening the immune system.

“COVID-19 strikes a person’s immune system, so everyone needs to eat right and make sure that the body is healthy and strong.

”Nutrition and good health are interlinked, where possible people should eat vegetables and ensure a varied meal plan.

“Everyone should also adhere to recommendations as provided by WHO and NCDC such as frequent hand washing and physical and social distancing and avoiding large crowds to stop the spread of the virus,” Sanginga said.

Without a pandemic like COVID-19, he said Africa was already a food and nutrition insecure continent while a pandemic could increase the risk of hunger.

He added that preventive measures such as lockdowns and reduced international travel had made the situation worse as food could not be moved easily from place to place.

Sanginga emphasised that the immediate effect of COVID-19 on the continent would be increased food prices.

“In the long term, we shall experience failed harvests if nothing is done to avert the situation.

”Seed, fertilisers and herbicides need to be transported to areas where they are needed; if they do not reach the farmers on time, we shall experience poor harvests which will lead to higher food prices.

“From the human perspective, when people’s health is weakened, there is an obvious effect on deployed labour, if farmers and their families contract COVID-19, this will automatically affect food production,” he said.

IITA, he said, had ensured that research activities continue while still adhering to the host country’s government directives in relation to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Following guidelines from the Nigerian government, IITA headquarters in Ibadan instituted a partial lockdown on March 30, 2020.

”During the partial lockdown, the institute continued to operate on a skeletal schedule, ensuring that ongoing research does not grind to a halt.

“In all other countries where IITA operates, partial or complete lockdowns were instituted per the host government directives,’’ he said.