Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2022, 13, 797-810 https://www.scirp.org/journal/fns ISSN Online: 2157-9458 ISSN Print: 2157-944X DOI: 10.4236/fns.2022.139057 Sep. 27, 2022 797 Food and Nutrition Sciences Advocacy and Use of Advocates as a Quick Win in Scaling Up Biofortification in Nigeria: The Case of Building Nutritious Food Basket (BNFB) Project Olapeju Phorbee 1,2 , Oguzor Gift 3 , Adeola Ojo 4,5 , Ganiyat Olatunde 6 , Adeyinka Onabolu 7 1 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria 2 Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Network (FANN), Abuja, Nigeria 3 Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 4 Dorcas Eunice Foundation, Ibadan, Nigeria 5 Formerly Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Abuja, Nigeria 6 Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria 7 Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abuja, Nigeria Abstract The Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) Project explored advocacy and the use of advocates as a model strategy for scaling up biofortification in Ni- geria during its three-year implementation. In addition to its direct advocacy efforts, the BNFB project identified and selected key personnel across discip- lines, gender and sectors, based on some selected criteria, as Advocates to support the scaling up of biofortification by raise of investments, resource mobilization, the inclusion of biofortification in relevant policy documents, strategies and plans of action. To realize these, the selected 32 Advocates were empowered to mainstream biofortification into their existing and/or potential programs/projects, as well as create awareness and demand for biofortified crops within their spheres of influence. Training and retreats were organized for the Advocates to strengthen their capacities in advocacy and promotion of biofortification and biofortified crops, while a social platform was launched to share opportunities, experiences and address issues around biofortification within the Advocates. As a result of these efforts, biofortification was in- cluded in three key national policies, strategies/plans of actions with resource allocation, and investments, over USD3 million were raised for biofortifica- tion. The Federal Government of Nigeria and some external governments became committed to biofortification programs while biofortified crops were mainstreamed in at least two national programs in Nigeria. Biofortified crops How to cite this paper: Phorbee, O., Gift, O., Ojo, A., Olatunde, G. and Onabolu, A. (2022) Advocacy and Use of Advocates as a Quick Win in Scaling Up Biofortification in Nigeria: The Case of Building Nutritious Food Basket (BNFB) Project. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 13, 797-810. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2022.139057 Received: June 28, 2022 Accepted: September 24, 2022 Published: September 27, 2022 Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access