Nigeria Invites! Food Security Advocacy Heard In Faraway Africa

On Thursday, I and my daughter, Dr. Ma. Krista Piñol-Solis, met with Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Folakemi Ibidunni Akinleye, and her husband, Ade Araoye, in Davao City.
It was our second meeting actually because late last year, we had a more formal meeting in the Nigerian Embassy in Manila.
It was Doc Krista who was first approached by a fellow medical doctor, Dr. Karla May Gentapan-Okorie, a Filipina married to a Nigerian, to ask if I could take a look at Nigeria’s agriculture and fisheries.
The Nigerians had been following my Food Security Advocacy and they subscribe to my idea of Food Sovereignty where every country should grow her own food and reduce dependence on imports.
In our last meeting, I agreed to make an exploratory visit to Nigeria in January next year with a team of Rice and Aquaculture experts.
Nigeria, with a land area of 92-million hectares, is also a major rice importer.
While they share with neighboring countries the 1-million hectare Kainji Lake and the 1,100 kms. Niger River, with a considerable coastline of 850 kms, Nigeria’s Aquaculture is far from being able to supply the needs of its people.
To say that I am honored by the invitation to share my Food Security Advocacies with a country I have never even dreamed of visiting, is an understatement.
This development validates my belief that Food Security is a major concern worldwide and everybody must lend a hand in achieving it.
What makes this engagement all the more exciting for me as a Filipino farmer is the fact that Nigeria is a major fertilizer producer.
#VisitingFarawayAfrica!
(Photo by Sgt. Arnold Vido.)