West Africa food trade must prioritize nutrition, experts say

Food trade in West Africa must be deliberately aligned with nutrition goals if the region is to deliver healthier and more affordable diets, experts say.

The experts who spoke during a regional webinar, ‘How Food Trade and Markets Shape Diets in West Africa’ highlighted how food trade and markets can better support healthier diets across West Africa.

They argued that tariffs, import policies, agricultural incentives and industrialisation plans should all be assessed “through a nutrition lens.”

Joyce Akpata, head of policy, advocacy and communications at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, said governments should back evidence-based regulation including clear nutrition labelling, responsible marketing and product standards to ensure consumers can access nutritious food without higher costs.

She added that public procurement offers a powerful lever. “Governments are large buyers through schools, hospitals and social protection programmes. Nutrition-sensitive procurement can create more predictable demand for nutritious foods while supporting local producers and SMEs,” Akpata said.

Improving the information environment — through nutrition education, public communication and point-of-sale data — must also be matched with actual availability and affordability.

However, information must be accompanied by availability and affordability, she noted.

According to her, public procurement is another strategic tool. She stated that governments are large buyers through schools, hospitals and social protection programmes.

“Nutrition-sensitive procurement can create more predictable demand for nutritious foods while supporting local producers and SMEs,” she said.

Victor Ajieroh, director of praise gate noted how regional trade can help scale healthier products.

“Companies need comprehensive nutrition strategies that are bold, use nutrient-profile models, and include transparent reporting,” he said. “Governments must demand better quality and create an enabling environment,” he added.

Speaking on how regional markets can serve as an investment incentive for healthier food products, he stressed that , “Harmonizing nutrient-profile models so that a product considered healthy in one country is recognized as healthy in others is essential, and ECOWAS has an important role here”

”Collectively we need to build a regional nutrition economy in West Africa in which private-sector companies have the right incentives to produce healthy diets, obstacles are removed, standards and nutrient profiles are harmonized, and the market expands.”

On recommendations for governments to better align trade policies with healthier food environments, he said that a comprehensive assessment of the healthiness of food products across the West Africa region would also be useful.

Once that data exists, progress can be tracked in a coordinated way.

Seun Sangoleye, CEO of Baby Grubz, said access to finance and infrastructure remain the biggest barriers for companies trying to commercialize nutritious foods.

“Without, the other policies will not work. We need policies that make it easy to move products, together with better storage, processing and logistics,” she said.

Emmanuel Konjo, Director at Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Trade, added that governments must work closely with informal markets and the private sector, and invest in communication to raise nutrition awareness at all levels.

“This has to be a concerted effort. It is not the government alone. Governments try to create an enabling environment but the real actors are the private sector whether small businesses or large companies,” he said.

“Success comes from working collectively and collaboratively with the private sector,” he said. “Also, awareness of nutrition is not yet strong, so significant communication and sensitization is needed at all levels of government,” he added.

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