Nigeria and the Food Insecurity Crisis

Elizabeth Nji, Ph.D 

By Dr. Elizabeth Nji 

As the world faces unprecedented economic downturns, climate change and armed conflicts between and within countries, maintaining food security in most countries is increasingly becoming difficult, and more people are becoming hungry by the day, as an estimated 864million people across the world were said to have been faced with food insecurity in 2023. A person is food insecure, when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development to live an active and healthy life. On the other hand, food security is a state of having access to safe and nutritious food and water by all people at all times. 

In 2022 and 2023, Nigeria was ranked second among the top 10 countries with the largest number of people experiencing acute food insecurity in the world, with about 24.9 million people lacking access to food, with Sudan following closely behind her. Interestingly, the 2024 projection indicates a prolonged food crisis, with Nigeria still maintaining its position, or as I think, probably getting to number one on the list, with the lingering economic crisis and with local production still very low, when compared to the population and consumption rate.

It is highly imperative that we consider the relationship between this food shortage and the problem that is malnutrition. Having extreme food insecurity translates to the fact that the prevalence of malnutrition will be high. In 2023, data from 32 countries experiencing food crises showed that about 36.4million children under the age of five suffered acute malnutrition, and of this number, about 9.8million faced severe acute malnutrition and needed urgent care or stood the risk of dying.

With the second goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030 underway, and with just six years to left to achieve this goal, Nigeria and all countries of the world must rise up to the daunting challenge of achieving food security for all. Countries need to implement policies and hitherto come up with new legislation to solve this crisis, of which cannot be achieved without proper financing.

International humanitarian organizations like the world bank, world food program, and the FAO cannot continue to fund food and agricultural initiatives especially with the escalating numbers of hungry people worldwide. A typical example is the World Food Programmes’ report that almost half of its country operations have been forced to cut the size of its food, cash and nutrition assistance by a whopping 50%. Moreso, food and fuel prices have risen all over the world, and this has created a significant impact on cash that is available for funding.

At the same time, countries with high production levels are beginning to impose bans on fertilizer and food exports to bring about food sufficiency in their nations. This is all deepened by the crisis in Ukraine, and the rising cost of liquified natural gas which has disrupted global fertilizer production, causing the whole world to be faced with shortages. As a result of this, countries that depend mostly on food imports must begin to look inwards in tackling the food shortages and food security crisis within their borders.

Rather than finding artificial solutions to hunger, countries and especially Nigeria should actively develop strategies for investing in resilience initiatives to withstand the shock that comes with economic downturns, climate change, and other crisis which causes food shortages and leads to acute food insecurity. Governments should partner with financial institutions, private sectors, humanitarian organizations and partners to bring about lasting solutions to the food and hunger crisis, and by extension, malnutrition. At the moment, this should be at the core of our agenda. If nothing is done today, we will look back as a nation in a few years from now in bewilderment wishing we had been more serious about this.

Taking a look at the three main aspects of food insecurity which is food availability, accessibility and utilization and using Nigeria as focus, we can clearly identify shortages in availability, especially in the wastage and spoilage emanating from improper and archaic agricultural practices, coupled with the incidence of farmer/herder clashes and unknown gunmen attacks on farming communities, which has forced most farmers out of their communities, and made many others flee their farmlands. The issue of wastage can also be addressed by making available modernized farming inputs and the use of technology in ensuring healthy crop production and proper harvesting methods. Our roads also have to be rehabilitated to ensure that harvested food stuff, most especially perishable food items, leave the farmers and get to the consumers in good form as a lot of food items, even when harvested in good shape, end up being spoilt on the roads due to the deplorable condition of our roads.

Food accessibility is considered the current major cause of the food insecurity crisis in Nigeria, and this is so because, even when food is available, at least in clusters of local populations, people are unable to have access to this food because they lack the finances to purchase food. In the recent #endbadgovernance protest taking place in the country, a common feature on the lips of most protesters is that of hunger, and especially the rising cost of food items and non-affordability by the masses. This means that though food seems to be available, it is not accessible. We may blame the economic situation and the high cost of fuel for this, coupled with high unemployment levels and low wages of workers, but we can’t play the blame game forever. As a country, we require a high level of political will to be able to look inward, and solve the hunger crisis within the nation. 

Nigeria is a country blessed with beautiful vegetation, fertile soil and rainfall, and we must turn away from our over-dependence on the oil sector and make the agricultural sector our priority as it stands. Both government and citizens alike have a role to play in this. Agricultural financing must be at the core of our agenda, and if we must take loans, let the loans be to fund farming initiatives, boost local production, improve mechanized farming and ultimately, achieve food security.

 

Elizabeth L-B. Nji, Ph.D