[ad_1]
Food and nutrition security dominated the discussions at the just concluded Senior Policy Seminar hosted by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The two-day conference which was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had the theme: ‘Agriculture and Food Policies for Better Nutrition Outcomes in Africa’.
Professor Njunguna Ndung’u, the Executive Director of AERC, in his opening address, emphasised that the seminar focused on Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition Outcomes in Africa because agriculture is the main stay of most economies and contributes to wealth, economic activity, employment and nutrition welfare outcomes.
He added that most policies and initiatives in this area have tended to focus on, and to target, agricultural production metrics, and do not directly relate to nutrition outcome and targets or actual food consumption.
“Global Panel of Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition point out that there is a dearth of quality data to properly inform policies on nutrition. This has tended to limit the effectiveness of agricultural policies in improving nutrition outcomes. In addition to data challenges, there has been lack of high-quality policy analyses that explore the effect of agricultural policies on nutrition. We need now to combine forces to achieve the best nutrition outcomes,” he said.
Ndung’u also reiterated that AERC will continually focus on quality research and strengthen policy influence. The AERC, known for training policy makers across Africa, is dedicated to strengthening capacity building for conducting policy-oriented research, policy analyses and informed policy.
There were various paper presentations, discussions and floor discussions on relevant topics such as agricultural growth patterns, nutrition transitions, the triple burden of malnutrition in Africa, diet diversity and how to combat malnutrition through food policies.
Although it was agreed that Africa was not yet winning the war against acute hunger and malnutrition, the policy makers commended governments across Africa for realising the importance of increasing shares of national budgets to agriculture, health and nutrition.
There was also a Policy Roundtable where it was resolved that increasing household income can help address malnutrition.
It was also said that science, technology and innovation were key in improving malnutrition.
Read Original Report Here By Independent
[ad_2]
