Despite being blessed with vast arable land that should be beeming with vegetation, Nigeria is on the verge of an unprecedented food crisis that threatens to grip the nation in its relentless embrace.
Just on Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, a United Nations agency, projected that by 2030, not less than 82 million Nigerians, or about 64% of the country’s population, may face hunger, and this prediction comes amid severe hunger already being experienced in the country.
The UN has urged the government to address climate change, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity.
Taofiq Braimoh, a UN official representing the FAO’s Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, emphasised that technology could accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals in food and agriculture.
He said, “The government of Nigeria, in collaboration with others, conducts an annual food security survey. This year’s results are alarming: approximately 22 million Nigerians will face food insecurity in 2024, and around 80-82 million are at risk of severe food insecurity by 2030.
“Nigeria, like many countries, grapples with food insecurity, climate change, unreliable water patterns, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity. As an agrarian society, our farms’ success directly impacts food availability for our population. Leveraging technology is crucial to strengthening our agriculture sector and ensuring food security.
“The satellite-based crop monitoring provided real-time data on crop conditions, enabling farmers and policymakers to make informed decisions and optimise agricultural practices.
“Technology could help expedite the accomplishment of sustainable development goals in food and agriculture.”
Of the about 26.5 million people grappling with high levels of food insecurity in 2024 as disclosed by the Government of Nigeria and its partners during the unveiling of the October 2023 Cadre Harmonisé analysis on food insecurity, approximately 9 million children are at risk of suffering from acute malnutrition or wasting. Of these, an alarming 2.6 million children could face Severe Acute Malnutrition, SAM, and require critical nutrition treatment.
The Cadre Harmonisé, an initiative focused on food and nutrition analysis, conducts studies biannually (in March and October) across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. With the Government’s leadership and the United Nation, UN’s system’s support, the latest projection for 2024 indicates a sharp rise from the 18.6 million people vulnerable to food insecurity from October to December 2023.
Several factors are driving this trend, including ongoing conflicts, climate change impacts, escalating inflation, and rising costs of both food and essential non-food commodities. Persistent violence in the North-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe hinders food availability and access.
Additionally, armed banditry and kidnappings in northwest and north-central states, including Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger, exacerbate the prevailing economic struggles.
Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, underscored the significance of the Cadre Harmonisé during a presentation in Abuja. He highlighted that despite Government efforts, external challenges like the ongoing global economic effects of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, which disrupts food systems, persist.
Dominique Koffy Kouacou, the FAO Representative ad interim in Nigeria and to ECOWAS, while calling on the Government to expand CH coverage to the remaining 10 states said, FAO would continue to support the Government and the people of Nigeria to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition.
Analysts have continually opined that at the heart of Nigeria’s food crisis lies a tangled web of economic woes. Years of inflation and economic instability which have pushed food prices to soaring heights, putting essential nourishment out of reach for many. Families once accustomed to filling their tables with staples like rice and maize now find themselves grappling with empty pots and dwindling reserves. The cost of living has become a burden too heavy to bear, squeezing already strained budgets to their breaking point.
But the crisis runs deeper than economics alone. Climate change has cast its long shadow over Nigeria’s agricultural landscape, bringing erratic weather patterns that wreak havoc on crops. Prolonged droughts shrivel once-fertile fields into barren expanses, while unseasonal rains drown hopes of a bountiful harvest. Farmers, the backbone of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, find themselves at the mercy of an increasingly unpredictable climate, their livelihoods hanging in the balance with each capricious shift in weather.
Adding fuel to the fire are the flames of conflict. In Nigeria’s northeastern region, the insurgency of Boko Haram has displaced millions, leaving them vulnerable to food insecurity.
Speaking to AljazirahNigeria,
a dietary nurse, Halima Gambo called on government intervention as the much needed panacea to Nigeria’s looming food crisis.
“The need for sustainable agricultural practices and investment in infrastructure has never been more urgent, as Nigeria stands at a crossroads between recovery and descent into deeper crisis. In this regard, the government must act fast and appropriately in order not to completely dash the hopes of poor Nigerians who have already had their fill of hunger and starvation.”
As part of efforts to address the food crisis in the country, the Federal Government on Tuesday said it is sending 60 trucks of fertiliser to each of the states of the federation.
Each of the 109 senators will also receive two trucks of fertiliser for distribution to farmers in their constituents, while the 360 members of the House of Representatives will get one truck each to distribute in their constituencies.
The Senate, which disclosed the planwhile debating on the food crisis at plenary, called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the fertiliser distribution.
The call followed a motion moved by Senator Sunday Karimi, representing Kogi West and co-sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South at the Tuesday plenary.
The motion titled, “Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables In Nigeria,” noted that in the last few months, the price of goods and household consumables had been on an abysmal rise in the country, leading to a high rate of inflation, weakened buying power, and general worsening of living conditions of the vast majority of Nigerians.
Karimi further noted that the latest data released by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that “food inflation in the country skyrocketed to 40.66 per cent on a year-on-year basis, a significant increase from the 24.82 per cent recorded in May 2023.
“The current market price of food items such as beans, maize, rice paddy, yam, tomatoes, and onions, which initially rose by about 40 per cent after the removal of petroleum subsidy, has now increased to over 100 – 300 per cent without any attributable reason for the increase in prices,” he added.
For Joshua Oche, a farmer in Benue State, “while we commend government’s efforts in this regard, we want them to be fair and equitable in the distribution of fertilizers and other farm inputs as the current hunger is no respecter of tribe, ethnicity or religion. The government must be fair to all.”
