Policy on Food Security often focuses on agricultural production by increasing staple produce such as cassava, rice and maize. These foods are high in energy but they lack the variety of nutrients essential for health and development. That is why malnutrition is often referred to as the “hidden hunger”.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture aims to make sure that the food produced is rich in nutrition and healthy for consumers, especially for families who farm for their livelihood.

Regional Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Chris Nikoi met with NEPAD CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki on Friday, October 3, to elaborate on ways on how to better integrate the aspect of nutrition into agriculture programmes and policies such as the Comprehensive Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

CAADP’s Food and Nutrition Security Programme promotes the integration of nutrition into national agriculture plans. The goal is to ensure that nutrition interventions are planned, budgeted for and implemented as part of National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans.

Dr Mayaki with Mr Nikoi

During the visit, Dr Mayaki and Mr Nikoi discussed how Nutrition can be integrated into the Malabo Declaration, which is a call by African leaders to end hunger and cut poverty in half by 2025, amongst other goals. The NEPAD Agency and African Union Commission are currently working on its implementation strategy.

They also discussed their partnerships under the Scaling Up Nutrition Initiative.

Dr Mayaki spoke about the NEPAD-led study “The Cost of Hunger in Africa” which was carried out in four pilot countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Uganda). He urged the need to scale up the study to other countries so as to further measure the impact of malnutrition in African societies.

In terms of future cooperation, Dr Mayaki and Mr Nikoi agreed to collaborate on a NEPAD-led Food and Nutrition Security online platform, which aims to capture and share knowledge on the status of food and nutrition security in AU member states.