Source: Vanguard
In line with the call by the United Nations for countries to ensure long-term food security, Federal government has been urged to enact policies that would ensure women's ownership of land in the country.

In a chat with Good Health Weekly in Lagos, the Campaigns Manager of Oxfam, Jamillah Mwanjisi, an international organisation striving to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world, stressed that enacting a law that would guarantee women's ownership of lands would ensure food sufficiency in the country.

Jamillah Mwanjisi who noted the negative impact of shortage of food on nutrition said encouraging Nigerian women who are mostly farmers would reduce the risk of looming food crisis in Africa and Nigeria inclusive.

Mwanjisi who spoke shortly after the launch a campaign tagged, "Act For Africa" in Lagos maintained the need for government at all levels to formulate policies that would encourage massive food production and strategies that would drive the process successfully.

Stating that government has for long neglected the agricultural sector called for massive investment in farming to drive food production

"Government should invest in technologies that will make farming more profitable. Farmers have been neglected for too long. Most of our farmers are still using hand- held holes. I believe if our women are empowered, they would be able to handle more hectares of land than the usual one or two hectares."

On food wastage, She called for education and improved policies that would reduce food losses in the country by boosting investment in the entire value chain, especially post-harvest processing.

"There is need to ensure that foods are not wasted. We need to have a good system in place that will ensure that foods are well preserved even when they are not in seasons."

Speaking on attracting young people to farming, "she stressed the need to encourage the youth to get involve in farming as part of strategies to improve productivity."

However, the 2011 global hunger report focuses on high and volatile food prices, major contributing factors in global food insecurity. Food price volatility may increase over the next decade.

The report states, due to increasing demand from consumers in rapidly growing economies, a population that is on the rise, further growth in biofuels that will place additional demands on the food system, as well as more frequent extreme weather events.

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