Thoughts on Nigeria’s food insecurity, By Dakuku Peterside 

Nigeria is grappling with a large number of great challenges, every akin to a ‘ticking time bomb’ that threatens nationwide stability. Amongst these, essentially the most urgent but underappreciated is meals insecurity. Regardless of its vital nature and its direct hyperlink to nationwide safety, meals insecurity has not obtained the pressing consideration it requires from the federal and state governments. This disaster not solely impacts the day-to-day lives of residents but additionally undermines the nation’s financial prospects and nationwide safety. The time to behave is now, as authorities responses have usually appeared chaotic or indifferent, failing to deal with the basis causes of the issue.

The failure to prioritise meals safety at this time may have extreme long-term penalties. Statistics from the United Nations Meals and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reveal that as of 2023, roughly 25 million Nigerians had been dealing with average to extreme meals insecurity. This represents a 20 per cent improve from the earlier yr, primarily attributed to escalating inflation, insecurity, and the results of local weather change. These figures underscore the pressing want for a coherent, targeted technique to sort out meals insecurity and keep away from an much more profound disaster sooner or later.

Nigeria can study from profitable meals safety methods carried out in nations like India and Brazil, which have considerably decreased their meals insecurity charges. By adopting related approaches, Nigeria could make vital progress in addressing this disaster.

Meals insecurity in Nigeria just isn’t a standalone challenge however a posh net of interrelated components. One of the vital vital contributors is farmers’ lack of entry to inexpensive capital. Agriculture, which employs over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s rural inhabitants, stays stifled by excessive rates of interest. The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) maintains a benchmark rate of interest of about 27.5 per cent, whereas industrial financial institution rates of interest vary between 30-40 per cent. These exorbitant charges make it almost unattainable for farmers to safe the financing they should increase operations or undertake trendy farming strategies. This is only one thread within the intricate cloth of Nigeria’s meals insecurity.

Farming isn’t just about planting seeds; it’s a enterprise that requires long-term funding. In Nigeria, nevertheless, the enterprise atmosphere prioritises short-term revenue over sustainable progress. This mindset makes agriculture much less enticing to buyers, leaving farmers with out the assets essential to enhance productiveness. Because of this, meals manufacturing is declining yr after yr, exacerbating the nation’s already extreme meals insecurity. A 2021 examine by Nigeria’s Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a 15 per cent lower in agricultural output over the previous 5 years, a troubling pattern that, if unchecked, might result in much more vital meals shortages within the close to future.

Bodily insecurity is one other main issue contributing to Nigeria’s meals insecurity. In lots of agricultural areas, significantly within the North, widespread violence has severely hampered farming actions. Banditry, farmer-herdsmen conflicts, and kidnappings have created a local weather of concern, driving farmers away from their land. In keeping with the World Terrorism Index, Nigeria ranked sixth globally for terrorism in 2023, with bandits and insurgents recurrently attacking farming communities. This violence has considerably decreased agricultural output. For instance, Zamfara State, as soon as a significant rice and millet producer, noticed a 50 per cent discount in agricultural manufacturing because of the displacement of farmers. The concern generated by these violent actions has discouraged new agricultural investments and compelled many farmers to desert their fields.

The influence of meals insecurity extends past agricultural productiveness. As meals manufacturing declines, costs rise, worsening the social and financial cloth of the nation. In June 2024, Nigeria’s inflation charge hit a report excessive above 33 per cent, primarily pushed by rising meals costs. In keeping with the NBS, meals costs elevated by a mean of 26.98 per cent between June 2022 and June 2023. This yr, meals inflation is about 40 per cent. In a nation the place over 40 per cent of the inhabitants lives under the poverty line, these value will increase have pushed thousands and thousands into deeper poverty, resulting in additional social unrest.

Rising power prices have additionally performed a big position in driving meals insecurity. Agriculture, which depends closely on mechanisation, transportation, and irrigation, is especially weak to fluctuations in gas costs. The elimination of Nigeria’s gas subsidies in 2023 led to a pointy rise in petrol and diesel costs, making it dearer to energy farm equipment and transport items. In keeping with a 2023 report by the Nigeria Affiliation of Chambers of Commerce, Trade, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), the price of transporting farm merchandise from rural areas to city centres elevated by almost 50 per cent following the gas value hike.

Nigeria’s infrastructure deficits additional exacerbate the meals insecurity disaster. Poorly maintained roads, insufficient railways, and inadequate storage services restrict the motion of agricultural items from farms to markets. For instance, the roads connecting many farming areas within the North to main cities like Lagos and Abuja are sometimes described as “loss of life traps” resulting from their deplorable situation. A 2022 World Financial institution report estimated that 40 per cent of Nigeria’s post-harvest losses are resulting from poor infrastructure, significantly the dearth of storage services and unhealthy roads. These losses cut back meals availability and contribute to larger meals costs, making it tougher for individuals to entry inexpensive vitamin.

Nigeria has more and more relied on meals imports in response to the escalating meals disaster. Nonetheless, whereas this gives momentary reduction, it’s not a sustainable resolution. Imports from nations with larger agricultural productiveness and cheaper power merely suppress home agriculture. In keeping with the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria spent over $5 billion on meals imports in 2023, together with rice, wheat, and maize. This reliance on imports undermines native manufacturing and exports job alternatives overseas, particularly in rural areas the place agriculture could possibly be a big employer.

By importing meals, Nigeria successfully exports jobs, lowering native employment within the agricultural worth chain and associated industries. For example, the importation of rice from Thailand and India contributed to the close to collapse of the home rice business, which as soon as employed a whole lot of hundreds of Nigerians.

Moreover, meals imports compromise nationwide safety. A rustic that can’t feed itself is weak to exterior shocks, as demonstrated through the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued Ukraine warfare, which disrupted international provide chains. The lesson is obvious: reliance on imports makes Nigeria vulnerable to international crises, whereas self-reliance in meals manufacturing is important for long-term stability.

To deal with these challenges, Nigeria should create a sustainable agroecosystem that enhances comparative and aggressive benefits in agriculture. This requires vital investments in vital sectors of the agricultural worth chain. Fertilisers and agrochemicals, for instance, are important to boosting productiveness, but the availability of those inputs stays erratic and costly. A 2023 report by the Worldwide Fertiliser Growth Centre famous that Nigeria faces a 40 per cent shortfall in fertiliser provide, contributing to decrease crop yields.

Mechanisation should even be prioritised. The present stage of mechanisation in Nigerian agriculture is without doubt one of the lowest in Africa, with solely about 1.5 tractors per 1,000 hectares of arable land, in comparison with the worldwide common of 10 tractors. Elevated mechanisation would improve productiveness and cut back reliance on handbook labour, making farming extra enticing to youthful generations.

Logistics and advertising methods are equally essential. Environment friendly transportation networks are important for transferring produce from farms to markets. In the meantime, agro-industrial processing can add worth to Nigeria’s agricultural merchandise, growing export potential. International locations like Kenya and Ethiopia have efficiently boosted their agricultural exports by investing in agro-processing industries, and Nigeria might comply with an analogous path. Just a few states like Niger, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kwara, Edo, and Enugu, amongst others, have proven dedication to agricultural revolution and agro-industrialisation.

Know-how additionally holds the potential to revolutionise Nigerian agriculture. Adopting agrotech improvements like precision farming and drone-assisted monitoring might enhance yields and cut back prices. Some Nigerian startups, like Thrive Agric and Farmcrowdy, have already begun leveraging expertise to modernise farming practices, however extra funding and assist are wanted to scale these efforts.

This requires management and the political will to remodel the agriculture sector. The ministers and excessive authorities officers working on the strategic stage should articulate a transparent imaginative and prescient and set SMART targets to assist remodel our agriculture sector. We salute the efforts they’ve put in to this point, however we’re calling for extra to be carried out. Now we have misplaced years on this meals drawback, and at this time is the subsequent finest time to get issues proper to avert meals insecurity now and sooner or later. Nigerians anticipate clear management in opening our agriculture sector throughout the worth chain.

In conclusion, meals insecurity and its cousin, starvation, shouldn’t be featured in a rustic with huge arable land and a vibrant youth inhabitants. Meals safety is an important facet of nationwide safety. Starvation is warfare by different means. Whereas short-term options like meals imports could quickly ease the state of affairs, they don’t handle the underlying causes of the disaster and should exacerbate long-term issues. The federal government should proactively spend money on agriculture by way of focused methods prioritising mechanisation, logistics, and agro-processing.

Meals safety isn’t just about feeding the inhabitants — it’s about safeguarding Nigeria’s future stability and prosperity. With out pressing motion, the nation dangers deepening its financial and social challenges, doubtlessly destabilising the nation additional. The time to behave is now earlier than the “ticking time bomb” of meals insecurity explodes.

Dakuku Peterside is a public sector turnaround skilled, management coach, public coverage analyst and columnist.