A food expert,  Dr Kenny Acholonu, has  disclosed that  food fortification, which adds essential vitamins and minerals to foods, is an important strategy to fight malnutrition.

Acholonu, Chief Executive, Bio-Organics Nutrient Systems Limited,  who made this disclosure  at a forum organized  by his company in Lagos recently, called  for a  national  campaign  to  get   farmers to  use bio-fortification to increase the nutritional value of harvests.

Acholonu said there is growing interest in the role agriculture should play in improving nutritional quality of food  produced.

He explained that Biofortification is a method of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. “Through biofortification, farmers  can adopt selective breeding of  plants fortified with high-zinc content, which has an inherent quality to control abnormalities such as stunting, poor immune response and pregnancy complications.
Across the  country, he  noted that, women, men and children lack adequate amounts of vital micronutrients in their diets, resulting in slow learning, reduced productivity and deaths from diseases.

To address this, he  said  his  company   is working with food processors, to ensure that  their food is fortified with low-cost, life-saving vitamins and minerals.

He   said  fortified  locally produced food crops could significantly improve nutrition for  people who eat these foods daily.

The  Executive Director,  Food Basket Foundation International,Prof Laolu. Akinyele,  said  to control micronutrient deficiency and anaemia, it requires  vitamin and mineral supplementation, food fortification and dietary diversification. Since 2002, he  said   Nigeria  has being  championing food fortification.

He  said  hunger has enormous consequences, not only to individuals, but also to society through reduced economic productivity.

Akinyele called  on  the government to help secure regulatory approvals and pursue production and distribution plans for  fortified foods.

Akinyele said improving the nutrition of  staple crops  has  the potential to change the lives of many Nigerians.
He  said Nigeria  will see the returns on its food fortification investment in increased productivity in the labour market, decrease in health care costs.

Akinyele said fortifying foods with key micronutrients, including vitamin A, will have the most impact for those who are most vulnerable.

He commended Bio-Organics Nutrient Systems Limited for promoting the use of nutrients, minerals, and micro-nutrients in mass production of foods, adding that the  effort  has  reduced  nutritional deficiencies.

He  called   for approaches for direct nutrition-specific interventions (NSIs), and developments to reduce and counteract the devastating effects of under-nutrition – specifically by promoting agriculture and food security to improve the availability, access to and consumption of nutritious foods.