Government must strive to end insecurity to make a dent on the food deficit
Amid fears of worsening food crisis, Nigeria last week joined other countries to mark the World Food Day which had a smart theme, ‘Leave No One Behind.’ Yet, the plight of millions of Nigerians, already left behind due to food insecurity, would be worsened by the recent massive floods as many homes, and hectares of farmlands were rendered prostrate. “A lot of strategies are being put into action to make sure Nigerians do not go hungry,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar during the event. “We know we have issues of insecurity and production has dropped, but we don’t have shortage of food in Nigeria at this point; we want to make sure there is no shortage, but yes, prices have risen.”
While officials keep making promises that are not backed by concrete actions, it is a notorious fact that millions of Nigerians are increasingly finding it difficult to eat a good meal in a day. Many communities across the country depend mainly on charity for survival. A report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation predicted last March that about 19.4 million Nigerians in 21 states are already facing food insecurity. This was more or less confirmed by the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), an international body which measures and tracks hunger at global, regional and national levels. It ranked Nigeria 103 out of the 121 countries, a position which signifies that the nation “has a level of hunger that is serious.” Besides, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed in a 2021 report titled “Fed to Fail,” that millions of children under age two are malnourished and lacking access to nutritious food to grow well and healthy.
Meanwhile, the country is not short of attempted measures to attain sufficiency in food production. Over the years various administrations have pushed forth many agricultural intervention programmes and policies in quest for food sufficiency. But they were pursued half-heartedly. From the National Accelerated Food Production Programme and Operation Feed the Nation to Green Revolution, and the Anchor Borrowers Programme, supported by this administration for small holders’ farmers in the production of rice, they have all fallen short of expectations.
Today, the country’s food system faces enormous challenges that make it difficult to provide affordable and nutritious food to a majority of the population. In spite of local production, the cost of rice, a staple, is still very high, priced beyond the reach of many. The protracted conflict in the Northeast, the farmer-herder clashes in the Middle Belt and other places have adversely affected food production as farmers have problem accessing their farms. In addition, nature-induced factors like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Russia-Ukraine war have affected food logistics and production. Last month, food inflation was put at 23.3 per cent, partly because of the ripple effects of being import-dependent.
Indeed, a major pointer to the failure of the agricultural programmes is the quantity of food imports. According to statistics, Nigeria imported an average of ₦1.923 trillion worth of agricultural commodities per annum between 1990 and 2011. The import bills are far worse today. Between 2020 and 2021, the value of imported agricultural products went up by 140.47 per cent. Nigeria spent N258 billion worth of dollars on wheat importation in the first three months of 2021, putting more pressure on scarce foreign exchange.
Thus, despite abundant agricultural resources, land, water, and labour, Nigeria is poverty ridden, struggling to stay alive. It could get worse. Much more has to be done to reverse the dangerous tide, first by ensuring peace and security across the country, and by focusing more attention on rural development.
