The government said it is trying to curb malnutrition among children.
The Federal Government on Tuesday approved the use of fortified sorghum and soya bean in the school feeding programme.
Muhammed Zakari, Senior Information Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this in a statement in Abuja
The statement said that Ibukun Odusote, Permanent Secretary of the ministry made this known in Ilorin at a Workshop organised by the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM).
It quoted Mrs. Odusote as saying that the ministry had approved it as part of the diets for school feeding.
It said that this would help achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 of reducing child mortality and improved nutrition for children and improving maternal health before 2015.
“One in five children in Nigeria dies before his fifth birthday due to factors related to malnutrition which makes them more vulnerable to killer diseases’’, it said.
It said the workshop was designed to demonstrate how to prepare preferred fortified sorghum, maize and soya bean based food into novel foods to be used for school feeding.
According to the statement, the permanent secretary commended the Governments of Kano, Gombe and Bauchi States for participating in the school feeding programme.
It called on all other state governments to buy into and adopt the school feeding programme.
The programme, which was launched in September 2005, was aimed at improving the nutritional intake by at least 25 million children of school age in the country.
(NAN)
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