Stakeholders in the nation’s food and agriculture value chain have said that unless urgent steps are taken by the Federal Government, the massive destruction to farmlands by the recent floods may result in a severe hunger crisis in 2023.
Aside from financial losses incurred by farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs, the destruction has been estimated to put 25.3million people across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in acute food crisis between June and August next year.
This estimation is contained in the Cadre Hamonise report on the food security situation in the country by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, (FAO).
The report revealed that though about 17m Nigerians, including Internally Displaced Persons and returnees are currently in a food crisis situation across the affected states, it noted that if nothing was done to salvage the situation, the number may increase to 25.3m people.
The key drivers of the possible increase in the number of victims, according to the report, include damages caused by floods on farmlands, crops and livestock; consequent high food prices; and high prices of agricultural inputs. Other factors are depreciation of Naira, insurgency in the North-eastern States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa; armed banditry and kidnapping in Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue and Niger States.
Oxfam, on its part, said that West Africa, including Nigeria, is currently facing its worst food crisis in a decade, with 27 million people set to go hungry due to a combination of factors, including flooding. The organisation predicted that the number could rise to 38 million, an unprecedented level, unless urgent action is taken.
In its official document, Oxfam advised the Federal Government to urgently implement progressive taxation measures and use them to invest in powerful and proven measures that reduce inequality, such as universal social protection schemes, to tackle the immediate food price inflation.
According to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, over 70,556 hectares of farmland were washed off by the flood. Farmlands running into thousands of hectres in Kogi, Benue, Taraba, Jigawa, Kano, Benue, Kebbi, among other rice producing States in the North, were also been reportedly washed away. It was learnt that about 90 percent of farms were destroyed by flood in Taraba, while others are still counting losses.
The FAO report revealed that some local councils in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States were currently experiencing crisis in food consumption, stating that situation is projected to get worse by June next year due to market shocks and the attendant food prices. The FAO Country Representative, Fred Kafeeto, noted that the devastating impact of flood, high food prices, among others, have resulted in high numbers of people who are food insecure. He maintained that although all the States were in different food crisis level, the organisation was more concerned about the North-East and North-West states that were affected by the conflict.
Kafeeto noted that to avoid the looming food crisis, farmers must be assisted to continue producing, saying with the increase in the cost of production, especially farm inputs, state governments especially must support the smallholder farmers to produce food.
Though the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the overseeing ministry for farmers, is yet to come up with the exact number of farmlands affected by the flood, farmers have continued to cry out to the Federal Government to provide them with succour to make up for their losses. Many of the farmers claim to have lost millions of naira to the flood and may be unable to return to farming.
However, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar, has debunked fears of a severe food crisis in the country as a result of the flooding. Abubakar highlighted steps being taken by the Federal Government to include the conduct of an immediate needs assessment of affected communities and farmlands in all affected States, based on available Remote Sensing report on 2022 flooding; distribution of assorted food commodities from the Federal Government Strategic Food Reserve to the vulnerable and flood victims through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; and distribution of early maturing seeds, fertilisers, agro-chemicals and agro-equipment to affected crop farmers across the country, among other measures.
Other interventions include collaboration with the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Cooperation, (NAIC), to sensitise farmers on the importance of insuring their farms against possible disasters such as floods, fire and drought, among other interventions.
