The UNESCO Read and Earn Federation (REF) has proposed solutions for food availability following the federal government’s declaration of a state of emergency on food security.

The president, UNESCO REF, Abdulsalami Ladigbolu, remarked in Abuja on Saturday that equipping young women in agriculture would prove vital to restoring food availability.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu, on July 13, declared a state of emergency on food security due to the inflation in food items in the market caused by insecurity in the North-East, North-West, and South-East.

Mr Ladigbolu said there was a need for the President to prioritise agricultural integration to curb these exigencies.

He said that women played a pivotal role in agricultural integration, which could make it possible for the country to achieve ‘zero hunger’.

According to him, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that women comprise 43 per cent of the global agricultural workforce.

“This number you see goes up to over 60 per cent in the least developed countries.

“In spite of the key role women play in agricultural development, they still have less access to technologies, information, resources, and finance for their agricultural activities across the globe,” he said.

Mr Ladigbolu, therefore, said that as an organisation collaborating with the government, it had introduced an agricultural initiative to stem the shortcomings of low food supplies in the country.

“UNESCO REF, under its Strategic Intervention Programme-ALPHA (SIP-ALPHA), has partnered with some organisations and relevant stakeholders to empower young women in Agriculture.

“This initiative is part of our commitment to contribute our quota towards actualising substantial attainment of the United Nations global goal before or by 2030 with emphasis on goal two, which aims at achieving “zero hunger”.

“Recognising the key role women play in agriculture, the launching of Young Women in Agriculture in Nigeria could not have come at any better time than now when food insecurity has become a major issue in Nigeria,” he added.

(NAN)