AllDiet Food blog

Food is the quintessential human need. The mental and physical wellbeing of humans depend on the nutritional quality, safety and balance of our food intake.

According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)of the United Nations 2024 Nigeria at a Glance report, Nigeria has 70.8million of hectares of Agriculture land area with maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam, beans, millet and rice being major crops. Due to a combination of man-made and natural occurrence, staggering economy and inflation, Food production seems to face a steep slope into murky waters. With Consistent Food Scarcity and low purchasing power, Malnutrition, hunger and in extreme, famine are the complimentary effects.

Globally, mouths to feed are greater than the food available. The outcome gives room to low food quality production, adulteration of food products, and alteration of balanced diet intake by the populace.

However, in Nigeria, there are varieties of local foods deeply rooted in the diverse cultures and regions. From Tuwo Shinkafa in the North, Gbegiri (bean soup) in the West, Onugbu Soup (Bitter leaf soup) in the East and Afang or Egusi Soup in the South, there is need for creative cooking for quality optimization in hard times.

The Nigerian food guide of the FAO states that, “the total intake of Food should be based on a person’s level of physical activity. Individual who does manual work needs to consume more food than those who do sedentary jobs; One must limit unhealthy fat and oil intake from animal foods. Also, diets should contain as wide a variety of foods as possible. Lastly, salt intake, bouillon cubes and sugar should be limited”.

Amidst the aforementioned recommendations, these are some of the ways to maintain mandatory quality nutrition in a biting economy or maybe, call it nutritional hack:

1. Use the Nutrition Pyramid Guide: A Nutrition or Food Pyramid Guide is a triangular representation of the optimal servings to be eaten each day from the basic food groups. It is a guide to daily food choices. Diagram below.

• Food Improvisation Method: The use of the same class of food that is accessible, safe and wholesome at a lesser cost is very important in maintaining a consistent healthy diet. For example, according to Havard Health Publishing, a healthy person needs about 0.8grams(g) of protein per kilogram(kg) of body weight. That amount is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). If one weighs 60kg, you will need 48g of protein daily. If 100g of chicken breast contains 23.2g of protein, you will need more than 200g of chicken breast to meet up your RDA. Due to high cost of food items, you can gain the same amount of protein with eggs. 100g of brown egg yields about 12g of protein. Therefore, for a 60kg individual, four eggs would guarantee an individual’s daily protein intake. Please note, this varies from person to person and also, egg consumption depends on your health dietary habits. People with high cholesterol level and cardiovascular diseases should reduce drastically their egg consumption habit.

• Subsistence Agriculture and Innovation: This should be practiced by every household. Reinventing the traditional practices of land acquisition for farming purposes should be encouraged. Also, with the use of technology and innovation in Agriculture, gardening should be encouraged at all cost.

• Minimize Food Loss/Waste: Food Loss/Waste can be curbed through proper knowledge sharing and sensitization to the farmers and food processors on the science of Food Preservation and Storage.
• Introduction of Food Trade-by-Batter: Apart from commercial purpose, to circulate the food and provide for those in lack, one can trade farm produce for another. This will equally curb food wastage.
• Awareness should be done on food recipe formulation and food improvisation for optimal Nutritional benefits by Certified Food Scientist.

In conclusion, a combination of safe farm lands for farmers, natural resources, national security for transporters, stable politics, favorable climates and innovative technologies in the Agro Sector can help boost food sufficiency and relegate any impending famine and extreme Nutritional Problems in Nigeria. For efficiency across all sectors, lets “Bite back”. Improvise, Substitute, Budget, Share, and Survive.

By Jones I. Solomon CFSN

Researcher; Member, Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology; Member, Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology (NiCFoST), Certified Food Scientist of Nigeria (CFSN).