Victor Ezeja
AdminIf nothing is urgently done to address the identified root causes, no fewer than 26.5 million Nigerians including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will suffer acute food insecurity between June and August next year. This is part of the aftershock of Nigerian government’s removal of petrol subsidy which toll on food prices has pushed households below food consumption threshold.
This came to light in the Cadre Harmonise (CH) Analysis launched in Abuja on Friday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in collaboration with the federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Galloping food inflation as well as the high cost of food production were also cited as basis for the projection.
Prime Business Africa reports that based on the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) food inflation rate in September 2023 was 30.64 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.30 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022 (23.34%). This was even as the September 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.92 per cent points when compared to the August 2023 headline inflation rate.
Now, the Cadre Harmonise Analysis which covered 26 states and the federal capital territory, also showed a reduced harvest and household stock, resulting from flash floods that led to displacement and loss of cultivated crop fields and ‘ready to harvest crops’.
The report in reference also detailed how soaring prices of premium motor spirit (petrol) team up with food inflation to rob households in the country of the capacity to maintain minimum dietary pattern.
The report showed limited food production activities in crisis-affected states of Adamawa, Borno, Niger, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Yobe, including parts of Benue and Plateau. It added that although global market stock supply appears to be stable, an increase in food prices has continued to limit food access in all affected states.
“Going into the lean season (June to August 2024) households may experience slight to moderate deterioration in food consumption which may plunge several states into the crisis phase.
“The unacceptable thresholds of food consumption may have resulted from a significant spike in staple food prices following increases in fuel prices, inflation and high cost of food production,” CH Analysis stated.
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Throwing more light on the report, FAO representative Ad-interim in Nigeria, Dominique Koffi Kouacou, said the report was impacted by several shocks, ranging from persistent insecurity, (like Insurgency, banditry, natural resource-based conflicts), high cost of food and agricultural inputs due to high inflation and other economic factors as well as the severe dry spells in some states of the federation shortly after the outset of rains.
Represented by Abubakar Suleiman, assistant FAO representative (programs), he said the combination of the above shocks generally affected the livelihoods and food security of many households at the peak of the lean season.
According to Kouacou, “Last week, we gathered in many states with the main goal of analysing all available data to identify populations at risk of food and nutrition insecurity in the country.
“As you all agree, CH analysis continues to produce reliable and widely acceptable evidence for planning food security and livelihood response targeting, and for prioritisation of development programmes.
“We acknowledge and appreciate the increasing interest of the government in empowering communities and strengthening their resilience so that they can be self-reliant. And we pledge to continue supporting the government and vulnerable communities to achieve these goals.”
In his remarks, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ernest Umakhihe, said that the results are coming at a time when the government at all levels is leaving no stone unturned in reinvigorating the nation’s economy by first addressing the challenges to food and nutrition insecurity.
According to him, environmental and human factors such as climate change, displacements due to insecurity and seasonal flooding regimes have remained a recurrent concern for the government.
“Daunting as this may be, it is surmountable, although several factors seem to be negating our efforts. Notable among them are the lingering negative impact of COVID-19 on the global economy and the Russia-Ukraine war which is currently disrupting the food systems and spiking up input prices (fertilizers and agrochemicals) and food prices.
“The removal of petroleum subsidy has further heightened this pressure, resulting in food inflation and increases in the consumer price index. These disruptions have implications on the food consumption patterns and the attendant high use of irreversible coping strategies among a sizable population of Nigeria,” he said.
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