Nutrition practitioners moves to use AI in fight against malnutrition in Nigeria, decry insecurity, climate change
By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
Nutrition Society of Nigeria, NSN has flagged off the campaign to indulge in the use of Artificial Intelligence in the fight against the persistent severe cases of malnutrition in Nigeria.
The society , which staged its 54th Annual Scientific Conference , from 16th to 20th September 2024 in Kano north west Nigeria had dedicated part of the conference sessions on fashioning out how to invoke the use of AI in combating poverty and malnutrition.
The President of the society , Professor Wasiu Afolabi addressing journalists in Kano disclosed that the theme of this years conference is unique with the emphasis on how to navigate nutrition frontiers and discovering strategies in reducing malnutrition.
According to him, the conference feature workshops on how to create tools that will help develop policies to reduce Hidden Hunger.
He added that, the august gathering brainstormed on how Nigeria can adopt the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve nutrition with the motive to take women and children out of poverty and malnutrition.
According to Prof Wasiu, there is the immediate need to develop tools for the creation of awareness on nutrition amongst the Nigerian populace , noting that, if Nigerian citizens are well informed on how to combine food varieties to achieve nutritional balance , the notoriety of malnutrition, hunger and poverty would be curbed .
Professor Wasiu then alleged that the current security problems confronting Nigeria has contributed to the national crisis of inadequate food production, stating that this has invoked poverty on women and promoting severe cases of malnutrition in children.
He lamented that security challenges across Nigeria , such as banditry, kidnapping were part of the factors that were causing inadequate food production.
The nutrition scholar further decried that owing to security challenges, large number of Nigerian farmers could no longer stay on their farms to produce food,
He also disparage the continuous rise in inflation, noting that this is one of the core factors, why many citizens are been denied access to adequate food.
He further lamented that issues around climate change has also culminated into rampant perennial cases of flooding, desertification and other effects resulting into the depreciating state of food production , that is presently been witnessed in Nigeria.
The society said that cases of flooding in several parts of Nigeria has resulted in the washing away of expanse of farm lands, which has contributed to inadequate food problems in the land.
He urged Nigerian government at all strata to proceed into partnership with critical stakeholders with the goal to embark on massive food production programmes to address the issues bordering on inadequate food production .
The august gathering opine that there also exist the urgent need for the development of new strategies in growing crops that will improve nutritional values.
