Healthy Diets Should be Made Accessible, Affordable, FAO Insists

Michael Olugbode

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for urgent action to ensure that healthy and sustainable diets are made accessible and affordable to all.

FAO Director General, Qu Dong Yu, in a speech marking the 2019 World Food Day yesterday, lamented that latest data showed that malnutrition was increasing across all regions and income groups in the world and this called for urgent action.

Reading the speech of the Director General at an occasion with theme: “Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World” in Maiduguri to commemorate the World Food Day in the North-east Nigeria, FAO Head of Office in the region, Mr. Alhassan Cisse, said there’s need to address all forms of malnutrition.

He said this year’s World Food Day focused on healthy diets, noting that “eradicating hunger is FAO’s top priority, but we also need to address all forms of malnutrition.”

He added that in order to make healthy and sustainable diets accessible and affordable to everyone, partnerships are fundamental, noting that “farmers, governments, researchers, the private sector and consumers, all have a role to play.”

According to him, “Farmers need better incentives to increase and diversify the production of high quality food.

“Governments need to adopt policies, food standards and regulations that prioritise the availability and affordability of safe and nutritious foods.

“Research institutions need to provide the best scientific advice and push the boundaries of knowledge and technology.