From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: NIGERIA: MALNUTRITION ON THE RISE
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 01:35:31 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Agriculture; Third World Dvpmnt
Title: NIGERIA: MALNUTRITION ON THE RISE


an inter press service feature

by sunny ike

lagos, oct 1 (ips) -- three times a week, about 100 children
gather at a disused anglican church building in the suburb of
ajegunle here, to receive free, high protein meals prepared by a
group of church workers.

sustained by cash and food contributions from unnamed donors
under the auspices of the emmanuel anglican church, the gesture
enables children identified as malnourished to improve their
protein intake and cope with the food requirements of growth.

the apapa soup kitchen -- as the programme is known -- aims
to address malnutrition which is on the increase in this west
african nation, particularly among the poor, explains the
coordinator of the programme, rev. ben nwaneku.

according to the u.n. children's fund (unicef), one in every
five children in the country die yearly from malnutrition while
to protein energy malnutrition.

at a recent seminar hosted by the nigeria institute of food
science and technology, prof i.o akinyele said pregnant women,
lactating women, very young pre-school children and the aged are
most vulnerable to malnutrition.

akinyele says about 12.2 percent of pregnant mothers and
between 20 and 22 percent of children in this country of 88.5
million people suffer from this problem.

moreover, between 20 and 40 percent of adult females and 10
percent of adult males are also malnourished.

bola kasumu, a nutritionist, believes this high incidence of
malnutrition dates back to about nine years and has been
aggravated in the last three years by the rapid decline of the
value of the naira (nigeria's currency) and the attendant price
increases which make it difficult for most people to afford
protein-rich foods.

with about 50 percent of the country's agricultural produce
wasted due to poor storage, particularly the seasonal crops,
coupled with the growing population, the increase in the cost of
foodstuffs is inevitable, says dele akinnusi, a storage
engineer. (more/ips)


nigeria: malnutrition (2)

akinnusi, who works with the nigerian stored products
research institute, adds: ''for many years we have been trying
to inculcate in the farmers, improved methods of crop storage,
to reduce wastes, increase food availability and reduce the cost
of foodstuffs''.

while acknowledging this handicap, uche okonkwo, an
agriculturist, says the neglect of practical agriculture over
the years and the reliance on subsistence farmers is resulting
in the failure of farmers to meet the food needs of the
country's growing population.

''we have got to the state where there should be a proper
mixture of small- and medium-scale farming to meet the country's
foods needs'', he says.

despite the increasing fondness for imported foodstuffs,
which further compounds the problem, kasumu feels that with the
right combination of local foodstuffs, people could obtain the
required nutrients.

but emmanuel owor, a sociologist, insists the fundamental
causes of malnutrition are poverty and inflation.

''what we need is massive local food production to make
foodstuffs affordable. after that people would listen to
exhortations about the virtues of local foodstuffs'', he adds.

recently the government set up a 25-member advisory committee
on food and nutrition to develop strategies to free the country
from hunger and malnutrition.

speaking at the inauguration of the committee, health
minister olikoye ransome-kuti said, ''malnutrition is
unacceptable because food is one of the basic rights of the
individual''.

''our children are ever in danger of malnutrition right from
the womb and this leads to one form of deformity or another'',
the minister added. (end/ips/si/tvh/apc/92)