By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has been selected as one of the eight African countries that will benefit from the Food and Agricultural Policy Management and Analysis programme instituted by the United States government.
The $11 million agric reform project will support the agricultural reform process in these countries and help them make more informed and evidence-based policy and investment decisions.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) emphasized that the objective of this programme is to identify priority areas for increased investment, among others.
In order to support the agricultural reform process, FAO launched earlier this month, the third phase of its agricultural policy initiative in several West African countries.
The $11 million grant was co-financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Germany, and the Netherlands.
The main objectives of this food and agricultural policy analysis and management programme are to identify priority areas for increased investment as well as increase transparency in markets and trade.
It has also been established to transform the rural world to be more inclusive with more nutritious food systems for all.
Through funding, donors hope to develop new policy tools and advanced economic modelling to help governments determine whether food and agriculture budgets are being spent optimally.
Acute food crisis in Africa has quadrupled in the last few years and millions more are at risk of slipping into crisis levels of hunger; with sky-rocketing global food prices and strains on food supply because of the Russia/Ukraine crisis, there is the likelihood that this will push more people into hunger in Africa.
Modupe Gbadeyanka