People living in villages and rural areas need to return to healthier and sustainable foods.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Sub-Regional Coordinator, Sakiusa Tubuna says in most villages and rural settings, diets are often centred on unhealthy canned and processed foods, which contributes to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

“We need to look at traditional food systems, where people can grow a wide variety of crops, but the problem when you go around the villages, they don’t have any traditional foods, the planting materials, the information or the technology.”

Tubuna says stakeholders in the agricultural sector and development partners can provide assistance to transitioning food systems into healthier, sustainable and affordable diets for people around the country.

Tubuna was speaking at a discussion amongst agro-food stakeholders which was hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Consumer Council yesterday.