By Adedapo Adesanya
A non-governmental organisation, Feed Me, has started an initiative of sharing food items on a monthly basis to the vulnerable and the less-privileged in the society.
Mrs Oluwatunmise Mafe, the convener of the NGO, said in a statement that FeedMe and its partners would provide monthly food supplies to families in various communities in Lagos to alleviate their needs and enhance their nutritional level
“Our plan for the next two years is to provide 100 families with food items like rice, beans, garri, semovita, vegetable oil and seasoning that will last them for a month.
“The strategy is to increase the number of families being fed from 100 to 250 families from the third to the fifth year.
“After the fifth year, we intend to reach 500 families with food items monthly.
“We are passionate about reducing hunger in our communities, and have committed ourselves to this selfless service,” she said.
She disclosed that FeedMe would share food supplies to 100 families in Okun-Ajah community, Lagos, to enable them to celebrate Christmas with joy and merriment.
Mrs Mafe noted that one in nine people globally were undernourished due to starvation.
“FeedMe cannot fold its arm and let people go hungry, we believe in doing our bit in addressing hunger issues by trying to meet the immediate food needs of the vulnerable around us.
“At a time when the number two sustainable development goal is zero hunger, the number of people who suffer from hunger – as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment has been increasing.
“In the light of the pandemic’s effects on the food and agricultural sector, prompt measures are needed to ensure that food supply chains are kept alive to mitigate the impact on everybody, especially on the poor and the most vulnerable,” she said.
She said there were indications that the world was not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030, adding that the number of people affected by hunger would surpass 840 million by 2030 if recent trends continue.
“With more than a quarter of a billion people potentially at the brink of starvation, swift intervention like the FeedMe initiative needs to be taken to provide food and humanitarian relief to the most at-risk regions,” she said.
