Nigerians at Risk of Food Insecurity by August 2022 — FAO

A report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has revealed that about 19.4 million people will face food insecurity across Nigeria between June and August 2022.

The report by the international organisation is also in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and other stakeholders in this food and agriculture sector.

The report analyses acute food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West African region.

According to the report food crisis will affect Nigerians in 21 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as well as 416,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across these regions. The reports also noted that about 14.4 million people including 385,000 IDPs in 21 States and FCT of Nigeria are already in the food crisis till May 2022.

The analysis covered the following states, Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Tarba, Yobe, and Zamfara, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Investors King recalls that the FAO had in 2021, revealed that an estimated 12.8 million Nigerians will go into famine between June and August 2021.

According to the report, enablers like insurgency in the North-east states, mostly in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, armed banditry and banditry in some North-west states such as Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna States, as well as North-central states of Benue and Niger are the key drivers to the upcoming food crisis.

The report discloses in part: “Loss of employment and reduction in household income due to the long-term effect of COVID-19 pandemic and displacement arising from conflict and armed banditry as evident in the crisis-emergency livelihood coping strategies adopted by most households. Among the principal reasons for the increase in the number of people in critical need as against the March 2021 Cycle could be the objective analysis of inaccessible/hard-to-reach areas (Borno and Adamawa), internally displaced persons (Borno), the increased number of displaced (vulnerable populations) due to banditry, and finally the inclusion of five new states, Contextual Shifts.”

Nigeria also has a current high inflation rate and this could be another key driver for the projected food crisis. Also, acknowledging the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine that has caused a break in the importing of certain food products can be another driver for the coming food crisis.

The Nigerian government will need to pay attention to the analysis results to aid informed decisions for national planning, design and implementation of national food systems transformation and distribution action plans.