The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) invested $10 million over five years in the SNiPS project across Kaduna, Oyo, Nasarawa, and Benue states, partnering with GIZ to boost vitamin A-rich cassava, maize, rice, and orange-fleshed sweet potato production tackling child/women malnutrition amid low yields and poor micronutrient staples. Results: 9,633 farmers produced 41.6M kg of nutrient crops; 978 trained in seed multiplication; 625 MSMEs processing biofortified foods; 32 got N2-4M microgrants; 30 gained regulatory nods; 40,000+ reached via awareness campaigns.
Country Director Dr Michael Ojo highlighted challenges like farmer financing gaps, weather volatility, consumer resistance, and slow market entry, urging policy integration of biofortification into agriculture, nutrition, and school feeding.
Agriculture Minister Sen Abubakar Kyari (via Nuhu Kilishi), NAFDAC DG Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, NiMet DG Prof Charles Anosike, and state reps pledged scaling nationwide for food security.
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