Posts Tagged ‘healthy choice mpcs’


Bettina Luescher, former anchor for CNN and Chief Spokesperson World Food Programme, Faye Nwafor of Healthy Choice MPCS and Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up on food panel for United Nations Association.

Bettina Luescher, former anchor for CNN and Chief Spokesperson World Food Programme, Faye Nwafor of Healthy Choice MPCS and Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up on food panel for United Nations Association.

Strengthening consumer and farmer education was one of the key recommendations of the United Nations Association Post-2015 Development Agenda Consultations roundtable on Affordable and Nutritious Food / Sustainable Agriculture, held at The New York Times headquarters in New York at the end of 2013. The consultations were conducted to inform the United Nations Secretary-General’s office of Post 2015 MDG agenda perspectives from civil society and the private sector on issues of anti-poverty and sustainability. Bettina Luescher, former CNN anchor and Chief spokesperson for World Food Programme, joined fellow panelists, Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up, Jessica Sobel of Unilever, consultant Megan Wiseley, and Faye Nwafor of Healthy Choice MPCS to discuss opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration, investment and policy priorities to maximize consumer knowledge about and access to affordable and nutritious food in America, Africa and the rest of the world.

The significant role to be played through public-private partnerships was championed by several panelists including Ms. Wiseley and Ms. Nwafor, the latter of whom’s background in surveying comparative food systems for healthier eating and a sustainable farming environment informed discussions on the necessity for crop diversification in meeting both consumer nutritional needs and the economic solvency of smallholder farmers. The panel concluded that an equally important priority necessitating further discussion was the empowerment of smallholder farmers with the aim of strengthening global food sovereignty. The roundtable findings, a program of the United Nations Foundation, will be presented by the Secretary-General in a report to the 68th General Assembly.

R-L: British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF), General Manager, Abimbola Okoya,  The New Partnership For African Development (NEPAD), Assistant Director Partnership, Ibrahim Abdul, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Deputy Director, Dele Oyeku, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria (NBGN), 1st Vice Chairman,  Chief (Dr.) Nike Akande, 3rd Chairman Planning Committee, Chief (Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission,  Director General, Ifeyinwa Emelife at the 1st NEPAD Business Group Nigeria  Cassava Investment Forum (NCIF) in Abuja

R-L: British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF), General Manager, Abimbola Okoya, The New Partnership For African Development (NEPAD), Assistant Director Partnership, Ibrahim Abdul, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Deputy Director, Dele Oyeku, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria (NBGN), 1st Vice Chairman, Chief (Dr.) Nike Akande, 3rd Chairman Planning Committee, Chief (Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Director General, Ifeyinwa Emelife at the 1st NEPAD Business Group Nigeria Cassava Investment Forum (NCIF) in Abuja

The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) brought together investors, food industry and policy stakeholders at the 1st. Cassava Investment Forum, a conference held in Abuja to discuss the role of cassava in Nigeria’s economic future. Chairman of NEPAD Business Group Nigeria (NBGN) Chris Ezeh, who was represented by Dr. Nike Akande, emphasized the need to increase cassava yields. “It is a food security crop that can transform the economy,” his statement read. Nigeria grows over 50 million tonnes of cassava annually, with most of the commodity crop earmarked for human consumption. With the aim of strengthening Nigeria’s already premiere position as the world leader in cassava production, NBGN officials urged the federal government to strengthen partnerships with the private sector in order to streamline further development of the cassava value chain. Private firms, represented by executives including Nino Albert Ozara of Honeywell Flour Mills sought to learn about new product potential for their flour while research, policy and product development experts including Christiana Ebisi, Executive Director of Healthy Choice MPCS, assessed strategies to build consumer interest and new product possibilities for a variety of locally grown food crops. “At the end of the day,” Ms. Ebisi said, “success for the food industry is measured by the creation of food products that consumers love to buy, farmers make a good living from growing and the public derives nutrition when eating.” Showing support for the economic growth potential for farmers through cassava production was Abimbola Okoya, General Manager of British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation. Ms. Okoya shared her foundation’s commitment to supporting rural farmers by encouraging their mobilization and group formation as a precursor to qualification for funds set aside for youth and women farmers. Nigeria’s Bank of Agriculture also expressed support in this endeavor, setting aside 900 million Naira for women and youth entrepreneurs interested in the agro-related sector, according to Waziri Ahmadu, Executive Director, Bank of Agriculture.