Nigeria’s population was estimated at 170 million people in 2012 and is predicted to increase to 264 million in 2050. The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the United Nations in a recent report have warned that the world will need about 60 percent more food calories in 2050 compared to 2006, and food demand in developing countries may double by 2050 as the world population continues to grow.
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Nestle Nigeria plc, through its Creating Shared Value (CSV) programme recently organised a two-day workshop which brought together 100 media practitioners to discuss the way forward and how to improve public awareness about water, agriculture, environment and nutrition challenges and sustainability.
According to Dharnesh Gordhon, the managing director and CEO of Nestlé Nigeria plc, in his opening remarks said, “The workshop is to bring together journalists and development communication experts from print, electronic and online media to discuss the role that media can play in addressing development challenges in nutrition, water and agriculture/rural development.
“Together they will search for innovative reporting models that will leverage the power of media to shape public debate and policies on these issues for Nigeria’s long term economic development.”
Speaking about ‘Good Nutrition, a Way of Life’, Chris Osa Isokpunwu, deputy director/head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, said that “Nutrition forms the foundation for healthy and optimal development. Adequate nutrition (IYCF) in the first two years of life is the “critical window” for achieving survival, optimal growth and development into adolescence and adulthood. Individuals are malnourished, or suffer from under-nutrition if their diet does not provide them with adequate calories and protein for maintenance and growth, or they cannot fully utilise the food they eat due to illness.”
“Strategies for promoting good nutrition includes: fortification of flour, sugar and vegetable oil with Vitamin A (long-term strategy), biofortification of cassava and maize, periodic (4-6months interval) supplementation of under-fives and post partum mothers with vitamin A (medium-term strategy), salt iodization, attainment of 98% universal salt iodisation and certification of Nigeria as USI compliant, National policy on Food and Nutrition, infant and young child feeding, food based dietary guidelines for Nigerians to mention a few.”
For Samuel Adenekan, corporate communications public affairs manager, “creating shared value is a fundamental part of Nestlé’s way of doing business that focuses on specific areas of the Company’s core business activities – namely water, nutrition, and rural development. At Nestle, we ensure local supply of agric raw materials through import substitution.
The timeline given is 2011 – 2013 and the goal is to replace imported corn starch requirements. The key highlights includes Nestlé buying about 6 million USD worth of cassava and corn starch annually (binder for Maggi cubes) and training of 500 farmers to establish 500 hectares of improved cassava variety.
The multi-stakeholder partnership involved included Nestlé, International Institute of Tropical Agric, local processors and cassava farmers. The benefits for the community included increased yields (from 8 10T to about 18 – hectares and improved revenue and the benefits for Nestle included cost savings of about USD 200000/year as a result of cassava starch replacing corn starch.”
The next to speak was Olukayode Oyeleye, special assistant, media and strategy at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and he spoke on ‘Nigeria’s Culture, Agriculture and Future’. In his view, “agriculture is in us: it is our past, our present and our future.
“The story of agriculture is a continuous one, unending and is shaped by our social and economic evolution as a country. Efforts to overcome the challenge of generational gap in agriculture; to engender the interest and involvement of youth in agriculture, under ATA, are being made.
“Youth is a critical category of the population that needs to be captured if Nigeria’s agriculture is to be sustainable. A YEAP (Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme) was convened on September 19 to 21, 2012, in Abuja, for the youth themselves to draw up a forward-looking agenda for engaging youth in Agriculture, to make them NAGROPRENEURS.
“Things have to change: even the semantics as the word agriculture does not seem to be attractive. Agro-entrepreneur seems more inviting. A N450 billion special agricultural credit portfolio fund, set aside by the CBN, is expected to transform agriculture significantly, especially if the commercial banks reduce their interest rate and make borrowing attractive to those in agribusiness. Within the past 18 months, about $8billion investment has been attracted into the agricultural sector.”
‘Nutrition in the first 1000 days of life’ was indeed another interesting topic and the lecture was given by Chioma Emma-Nwachukwu, external affairs manager, Nestle Nigeria plc. In her remarks, she revealed that today, under-nutrition is still a leading cause of maternal and children throughout the world and babies who are malnourished in the womb have a higher risk of dying in infancy and are more likely to face lifelong cognitive and physical deficits and chronic health problems.
According to Chioma, “The first 1,000 days of life is from conception to the second birthday and this determines the health and cognitive ability of the child for the rest of his life. There is a window of opportunity between pregnancy and age two where 1,000 days can shape a child’s future.
“Evidence shows that the right nutrition during the 1,000 days can save more than one million lives each year, significantly reduce the human and economic burden of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS, reduce the risk for developing various non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, and other chronic conditions later in life, improve an individual’s educational achievement and earning potential; and increase a country’s GDP by at least 2-3 percent annually.”
Finally, Tunde Akingbade, CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of 2012 in his remarks spoke about ‘Turning water into news’. He says that the role of the media is to disseminate information to the public, enlighten and entertain them. The media has a crucial role, to doggedly pursue the goal of enlightening and entertaining the public.
To achieve these lofty goals and ideals, the media should strive to use the available platforms to reach out to the public such as the print and electronic. According to him, “the survival of man depends on water. Any journalist who wants to excel should critically look at water related issues. Countries around Lake Chad are contending with water related crisis. Egypt and Ethiopia were almost going to war over Nile River. Nigeria supplies energy to our neighbours and places River Niger passed through. How many of us know why? Its water related.”
