Food insecurity is when someone doesn’t have regular access to enough nutritious food. It’s caused when food either isn’t available or it isn’t affordable. Severe food insecurity means a person at times has not eaten for days, leading to extreme and severe hunger. For children, the result of food insecurity is devastating. It leads to severe weight loss, obesity, stunted growth etc. as a result of malnutrition. If nothing changes, malnutrition can permanently affect a child’s growth, health and development.
Everybody needs food, but still agricultural production tends to be concentrated in the largest countries as well as those with the most accommodative climate in their growing areas. Population size is also crucial because the bulk of agricultural production is still consumed locally or domestically, despite the rapid growth of international trade in farm products.
The world’s top four food-producing countries—China, India, the U.S., and Brazil—share the advantages of large populations, ample land area, and climate zones suitable for growing a variety of crops, though they have major differences in the role that food production plays in their economies.
Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world currently.
According to a World Bank report, between May 2022 to August 2022 nations around the world are experiencing high food prices and high inflation rates. 88.2% of low-income countries, 91.1% of lower-middle-income countries, and 93% of upper-middle-income countries have seen inflation levels above 5%, with many experiencing double-digit inflation.
The 11th Global Food Security Index (2022) shows a deterioration in the global food environment for the third year, threatening food security. The food security index considers issues of: affordability, availability, quality & safety, sustainability & adaptation. Based on these indices, Finland, Ireland and Norway are the most food secured countries in the world. While our darling country Nigeria is number 107 of the 113 countries ranked by experts-Economics Impact 2022.
In Nigeria, 12.7% of the population have prevalence of undernourishment, 35.3% of children are stunted, 18.4% of children are underweight, 7.8% have prevalence to Obesity and 0.54 of Human Development Index. Of the critical indices of affordability, availability, quality & safety and sustainability & adaptation, Nigeria is on the negative side of the number line.
Many factors influence the level of food production in a country, including land area, size of population, climate, and the quality of agricultural infrastructure and technology. While the U.S. is the top exporter of agricultural commodities, other countries including China, India, and Brazil have emerged as major food suppliers. Beyond the challenge of feeding humanity on an overheating planet, climate change shocks like droughts, heatwaves and floods are threat multipliers in other areas—they increase conflict risks, creating climate refugees, social unrest and insurgency.
These climate shocks make food more expensive and increase existing vulnerabilities, with long term implications for nutritional security.
The world is now facing the third global food price crisis in 15 years and policymakers are keen to avoid a repeat of 2008 economic depression, when food prices also reached record highs. But they face a big task-Climate change, widespread poverty and conflicts are now combining to create a very huge risks to global food security. Experts on Sustainable Food Systems have noted that higher food prices may be the new normal unless action is taken to curb the threats.
The way forward to food insecurity are trade, food security strategies and setting nutritional standards. Bringing down food costs requires trade freedom and farmer support. Therefore, Nigerian farmers needs sustainable financing facilities, avoidance of trade or export restrictions, price volatility can be minimized by tackling commodity speculation, and debt relief should be given priority due to the prevailing natural occurrences (e.g., flood) that destroyed our farms. Emphasis must be on our farmers on how to adapt to a changing climate through shifts in sustainable practices and programs.
This can include improving land management, increasing soil organic carbon content, adopting sustainable sourcing, improving energy source and use, and reducing pollution, food waste and post-harvest losses by going into large scale food processing. Adapting to a changing climate and promoting agricultural resilience, rather than just reacting to shocks will ensure that everyone is fed with nutritious food.
Prominent agricultural producing states in Nigeria are currently being affected by insecurity ranging from banditry, terrorism, kidnappings etc., preventing farmers from accessing their farms and harvesting their farm produce.
Niger, Taraba, Kebbi, Katsina, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Benue and Kaduna states have been languishing under attacks. It is practically impossible to go to farms in these states. One-litre bottle of herbicide was N2,000 in 2021, but now it costs around N5000. A kg of rice seeds was N300 in the same period, but now it costs N500. Again, a bottle of one-litre pesticides has increased from N2,500 to N6,000. Improper use of fertilizer, agrochemicals and use of unconfirmed genetic hybrid seeds has also emerged as collateral damage to the health of the populace.
The federal government should set up a crisis response group and alliance on food, energy and finance for coordinated action on food security. These sorts of initiatives should include the private sector, taking advantage of its creative mindset to find solutions to grow, develop and process food through technology and innovations. This innovation, nurturing and educating of consumers and farmers across generations forms the foundations of a sustainable food supply. Nigeria will have higher global food security scores when farmers have access to agricultural inputs and financial products, governments should also invest in R&D and innovative technology, and ensure supply-chain infrastructure is strong.
Also, there should be special commitments to empowering female farmers, access to agricultural technology, education and resources, commitment to using and prioritizing food security strategies. These interventions are important because they have an outsized impact, not only on availability, but also in terms of sustainability, affordability, and quality and safety.
Maiyaki writes from Kaduna via
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