EU backs local nutrition production in Nigeria

The European Union has reiterated its commitment to bolstering local nutrition production in Nigeria, a move aimed at intensifying the fight against child malnutrition and decreasing dependence on imported therapeutic foods. This initiative underscores a strategy to link industrial investment with tangible humanitarian results.

During a visit to NutriK’s production facility in the Kano Free Trade Zone, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, led a Team Europe delegation. The delegation, which included representatives from EU member states and UNICEF, emphasized the importance of this collaboration in addressing nutrition, health systems, and sustainable livelihoods in northern Nigeria.

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The products manufactured here are helping to support vulnerable children while demonstrating how investment and innovation as well as business-friendly conditions created by the Kano authorities contribute to human development and economic growth.

Mignot highlighted that the EU's engagement is designed to ensure that investments in production systems directly benefit vulnerable children. He pointed to the local production of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) at the Kano facility as a prime example of how private investment and development cooperation can effectively meet urgent humanitarian needs. "The products manufactured here are helping to support vulnerable children while demonstrating how investment and innovation as well as business-friendly conditions created by the Kano authorities contribute to human development and economic growth," Mignot stated.

The visit also shed light on NutriK’s efforts to expand its use of locally sourced raw materials. NutriK’s, a French-Nigerian company, currently imports groundnuts due to quality concerns with local supply but is investing in upgrading domestic processing capabilities. The company's Managing Director, Abdoulkader Yonli, noted that this transition would lower production costs and strengthen Nigeria's agricultural value chain. He also stressed that demand for RUTF in Nigeria significantly outstrips current production capacity, underscoring the critical need for expanded local manufacturing to address the estimated 2 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

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We came here to learn more about the progress being made, to engage with partners on the ground and to explore how collaboration between Kano, the European Union, UNICEF and the private sector can continue to deliver results.