Hyper-Inflation and Current Food Price situation…whatever happened to us?
With over 220 million people, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and the sixth in the world. It is the tenth-largest producer of crude oil in the world and achieved lower-middle-income status in 2014. However, according to a report presented during the unveiling of the Cadre Harmonisé analysis on food insecurity in October 2023, it is projected that Nigeria will have about 26.5 million or 15% of its people grappling with high levels of food insecurity in the June-August lean season of 2024. The Cadre Harmonisé is an initiative focused on food and nutrition analysis and conducts studies biannually (in March and October) across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to the World Bank’s latest Food Security report, seven states across the nation are already projected to be at a crisis food insecurity level, while the Northwest and Northeast regions are projected to reach crisis levels in food insecurity in 2024, mostly because of persistent terrorist activities, armed conflicts and general insecurity that have disrupted farming activities and livelihoods. They include Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara states, and have progressively affected several States in Southern parts of the country.
Analysts say regional instability due to conflicts, climate change, the rising cost of both food and essential non-food commodities, and inflation, are the major factors driving this trend. The devaluation of the naira as well as the discontinuation of the fuel and electricity subsidies have also impacted the increasing cost of energy, transportation, and food prices.
Of particular concern is the lingering effect of previous kidnapping activities and attacks of farmers on farms across the country which led to the abandonment of farms, displacement, market disruptions, and loss of livelihoods. For example, over the past year, dozens of farmers have lost their lives, while others have been abducted or injured while eking out a living outside the security perimeters of Borno’s garrison towns due to limited farming lands and fewer or no livelihood options. According to the Nigerian Security Tracker, armed groups killed more than 128 farmers and kidnapped 37 others across Nigeria between January and June 2023. This situation needs to be arrested and reversed urgently and it is noteworthy that the present government has already declared an emergency in the Food Security sector.
With the global climate change, Nigeria is also subject to periodic droughts and floods. This has hurt agricultural output and increased the vulnerability of our populations, especially in rural areas. Insurgent and banditry activities have further added pressure to a fragile resource environment, deepened insecurity, hampered development, apart from the heightened food and nutrition insecurity which has made many women and children vulnerable.
One of the common solutions for countries facing food crises is to support the concept of ‘family farming’, a type of agriculture that depends on family labour and management. If considered and adopted, this subsistence or family farming may help to preserve the supply of traditional food products to households, while also contributing to balanced diets for our growing population.
As a temporary response to the nation’s growing food crisis and the rising cost of commodities, President Bola Tinubu in February 2024 ordered the immediate release of more than 102,000 metric tons of various grain types from the National Food Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria.
Yet the rise in food prices has not abated. The food security and nutrition situation in Nigeria therefore remains urgent and requires full-scale intervention by the government and various non-governmental organizations across the country, working together. Preventing a food crisis would require a combination of measures that will address the diverse and complex factors that affect food security in Nigeria today.
Happy to note that the World Food Program is already prioritizing its operations to reach 1.1 million vulnerable people every month in Northern Nigeria while the FAO’s focus is on agri-food systems transformation with deliberate attention on resilience-building, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and provision of extension services, as noted by the FAO Representative in Nigeria/ECOWAS, Dominique Koffy Kouacou, during the unveiling of the Cadre Harmonisé analysis report on food insecurity in October 2023.
Glytabs Consulting Ltd, amid this crisis, will continue to provide food and nutrition advisory services to food businesses and enterprises at all levels, aimed at contributing to food security through resilience-building measures required for their sustenance and growth.
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