Stakeholders seek inclusion of whole grains in national nutrition policies

Some stakeholders have called for the integration of whole grains into national nutrition policies in order to improve product quality to meet consumer preferences.

According to them, the policies should also strengthen market linkages and scale adoption across school feeding and institutional markets through targeted social behaviour change campaigns.

The stakeholders made the call during the dissemination workshop and press briefing on Nigeria’s first large-scale social marketing research to understand barriers to and increase consumption of fortified whole grains in the country.

The workshop was organised by Fortified Whole Grain Alliance (FWGA), in collaboration with TechnoServe Nigeria in Abuja.

The workshop marked a critical step towards embedding whole grain adoption into Nigeria’s food policies, school feeding programmes, and institutional markets.

Speaking at the event, Country Director, TechnoServe Nigeria, Adesuwa Akinboro, emphasized the importance of evidence-driven policy reform.

Akinboro said, “This research helps us understand not just what Nigerians eat, but why. By grounding decisions in real consumer insights, we can build policies and markets that make nutritious whole grain products accessible to every household.”

Also speaking, Managing Director, Fortified Whole Grain Alliance, David Kamau, emphasized the organisation’s commitment to providing catalytic support to transforming the food ecosystem.

Kamau said, “What we have in front of us today is more than research; it’s a roadmap. It shows where the system is working, where it’s stalling, and what it will take to make whole-grains an everyday reality.

“FWGA remains committed to turning these insights into coordinated action with government, millers, and market actors so Nigerians can access products that are nutritious, trusted, and consistently available.

“If we want consumption to change, the system around the consumer must change first, and introducing whole grains in school meals supported by an appropriate behaviour change campaign is a critical step towards addressing the triple burden of malnutrition.”

The workshop gathered representatives from key government bodies, including the Federal Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Education, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.

There were also representatives from state ministries of Education, Budget and Planning, Health, and the National Association of Private Schools Proprietors from Kano and Ogun states.

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