NIGERIA is undergoing a severe food crisis fuelled mainly by the raging insecurity threats in all parts of the country. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar, has recently admitted this reality, warning that with the current prices of food items, many Nigerians may plunge deeper into poverty if proper measures are not taken. On the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the state governors lie the responsibility to urgently take measures to stave off famine in the country.

Abubakar’s warning is neither new nor an isolated missive. As far back as 2015, such alerts have been raised by many international bodies, NGOs and experts about the imminent danger of this calamity, but the federal and state governments have failed to act with dispatch or mount effective countermeasures.

From the recent data by the World Poverty Clock, over 70.67 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty. The World Bank suggests a higher figure of over 90 million poor living below $1 a day. Adding hunger to this problem would be compounding their misery, and the country cannot afford to be this careless.

A report by the Borgen Project, a non-profit, stated that over 4.4 million people in the country are still entirely dependent on food assistance for their survival. According to ReliefWeb, embargoes on food items, the reluctance of manufacturing countries to export and the reduction of economic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to food price hikes as high as 120 per cent and more across markets nationwide. Prices are rising at a faster rate than ever seen before in these climes.

At a workshop organised by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development in Abuja, in collaboration with the Division for the SDGs of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the National Coordinator, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, Gloria Akobundu, again warned the Nigerian government to take proactive steps to avert disaster. She argued that there was a “real danger of communities being exposed to insecurity, youth restiveness and malnutrition due to the nation’s population of over 200 million people.”

In a recent report, Forbes magazine detailed how terrorism in Nigeria has become a major threat to food security. The unprecedented rise in insecurity has displaced farming communities and hindered cultivation.

Another report by AfricaNews stated that “a hunger crisis is now looming in Nigeria” following violence between farmers and herders over access to water and land in several Nigerian states. Kidnapping for ransom and mass killings in the country have gone on unhindered for decades but became pervasive in the last seven years.

Between 2016 and 2018, over 3,000 persons lost their lives, according to Amnesty International. In 2021 alone, the number nearly tripled as terrorism became full-blown, threatening all aspects of Nigerian life. In the hinterland, farming, transportation of produce and markets are under frequent attacks by terrorists under different guises. As many farmers can no longer go to the farms for fear of killer herders and terrorists, who storm their farms with their cattle and have a field day on their crops, and the roads and markets, are similarly unsafe, food and income are in short supply.

The increasing conflict across northern Nigeria continues to limit the capacity of farmers. More than 13 million people in the troubled region are now facing hunger, according to the World Food Programme.

These attacks have migrated southwards. In July, there were reports of attacks on farmers by herders in southern communities. Farmers in the Eha-Amufu community, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, raised the alarm that they could no longer go to their farms for fear of attacks by Fulani herdsmen.

There were media reports that farm settlements at Mgbuji, Ngele Aguiyi and Abo communities in Eha-Amufu came under heavy attacks by marauding herders, resulting in the death of many farmers and the destruction of farms. Soldiers have occasionally had to escort farmers to their farms to protect them from the marauders.

Also, in the North-Central, Benue, one of the states with the largest yields for crops such as rice, yam and soybean, according to data by the Federal Government, earning it the title of ‘food basket of the nation’, has become a shadow of its old self because of incessant Fulani herders’ attacks and forceful seizure of land.

Governor Samuel Ortom said 1.5 million of the state’s 5.74 million-strong population — who are predominantly farmers — have become internally displaced in the wake of the security crisis. “More than 95 per cent of these displaced people are farmers who contribute more than 70 per cent of the total food production in the state,” he said, admitting that “everything shows we are heading to a food crisis.”

Another recent report by All Africa stated that at the camp for internally displaced persons in Guma, some 48 kilometres from Makurdi, the state capital, many of the 3,000 occupants live from hand to mouth, often relying solely on support from NGOs and from doing menial jobs at nearby farms.

Over 70 per cent of Nigerians work in the agriculture sector, mainly at a subsistence level, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reports. Despite Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest crude oil producer, the country remains heavily dependent on agriculture, which contributed almost 30 per cent to national GDP in the third quarter of 2021, according to the country’s statistics agency.

The country needs to pay attention and end these security threats so farmers can return to their farms to produce. The FG and states must promote mechanised farming, as over 90 per cent of Nigerian farmers still use cumbersome manual farming methods. The government must focus on rural development, appropriate food policies to stabilise the polity and reduce poverty.

All these strategies must work in collaboration with international aid agencies, the 36 state governors and the Federal Capital Territory, to ensure success.

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