The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) has distributed stainless steel grater machines for processing purposes to groups of farmers in four local government areas of Oyo State in order to reduce malnutrition and improve food security in the country.
The Senior Project Manager for GAIN, Godwin Ehiabhi, disclosed this at the official flag-off and distribution of processing equipment for youth and women project participant groups in Oyo State at the Ministry of Agriculture Warehouse in Awe, Oyo town.
Ehiabhi stated that the project is meant to intensify the campaign on bio-fortification crops and strengthen Nutrition in Priority Staples (SNIPS) such as Vitamin A Cassava and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP), among others.
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He listed the beneficiary states to include Oyo, Kaduna, Benue, and Nasarawa states, while explaining that the exercise will enable people to have access to nutritious food and that when people have access to nutritious food, it means they will also consume it, leading to a reduction in malnutrition and more money for the beneficiaries.
“The project has been here since 2021, and we hope to continue for the next two years. We have worked with over 1,500 farmers that have been trained, and we are working with vitamin A maize value chains, orange flex sweet potato value chains, vitamin A cassava value chains, and rice value chains”.
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Faden Lachang, project manager of the biofortification under the Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples project implemented by GAIN, said on his own that they are out to provide a healthy diet, and the prospect is there for farmers to expand production and consumption of biofortified crops.
According to him, they worked with two implementing partners, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Diamond Development Initiatives, on capacity building and training in training farmers on community vines and stance multiplication.
