As the world celebrated Water Day, yesterday, stakeholders have decried non availability of water especially in the rural areas to encourage agriculture and ensure improved potable water supply.
The consensus was that the development accounted for the acute food shortages, poor sanitation and outbreak of water borne diseases in the country
This year’s Water Day has the theme, “Water and food security, the world is thirsty because we are hungry.”
The Country Coordinator of Micah Challenge Nigeria, Mrs. Talitha Pam while speaking in Jos, the Plateau State capital, yesterday, urged stakeholders in public and private sectors to collaborate efforts in ensuring the availability of water to all especially as drought as a result of the climate change had given rise to hunger and outbreak of diseases.
Mrs. Pam added that there have been efforts by stakeholders to provide potable water just as there was the need to raise awareness between water and food production to promote sustainable food production and consumption patterns.
According to her, Nigeria is endowed with 74 million hectares of arable land with 60 percent of the population involved in agriculture yet majority of the population is poor and malnourished due to inadequate water supply.