Amid global concern for hunger and food security, the Global Hunger Index has ranked Nigeria 103 out of 121 countries featured on the list.
Going by the templates, this means Nigeria falls under the category of a country with serious hunger.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022 report which is jointly researched, prepared and published by German-based Welthungerhilfe and Dublin-based Concern Worldwide noted that Nigeria has a score of 27.3 percent.
Using four component indicators of undernourishment; child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality, the GHI report measures and tracks hunger at the global, regional and national levels.
While countries are ranked in five different categories of Low, Moderate, Serious, Alarming, and Extremely Alarming, Nigeria is ranked as “serious”.
A closer look at the report shows that 12.7 percent of the Nigerian population is undernourished. The report also indicates that 11.4 percent of children in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday.
While 6.5 percent of under-five children in the country are wasted, 31.5 percent of children under five are stunted.
Investors King understands that in 2020, Nigeria ranked 98 out of 107 countries while it ranked 103 out of 116 countries in 2021.
Meanwhile, the report spotted the highest level of global hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa. Factors such as Covid 19, climate change and the war in Ukraine are identified as the catalysts.
“The situation is likely to worsen in the face of the current barrage of overlapping global crises – conflict, climate change, and the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic—all of which are powerful drivers of hunger,”
“The war in Ukraine has further increased global food, fuel and the price of fertiliser which has the potential to contribute to the shortage of food in 2023,” the report said.
The GHI report also stated that about 828 million people were affected by hunger globally in 2021.
Additionally, Nigeria’s situation is likely to be compounded due to insecurity and flooding in some parts of the country.
Investors King earlier reported that the severe flood which has rampaged many farmlands in Nigeria could exacerbate the situation.
For instance, in the North-Eastern part of the country, more than 150,000 hectares of land have been destroyed.