"Flooding has been in town for 10 years. It's now becoming an annual crisis, destroying farms and food supplies."
To effectively tackle the challenges of climate change and escalating food insecurity in Nigeria, a unified and collaborative approach is essential.
This was the conclusion of experts during a panel session at the Media Development Conference 2024 (MDC 2024), in Abuja on Monday.
The three-day conference, organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), is themed, "Navigating Global Shifts: Media and Technology for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Africa."
Speaking at the event, the Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Wannie Solarin, highlighted the impact of climate change on Nigeria's food system.
Ms Solarin noted that flooding is gradually becoming consistent, leading to the destruction of farms and farm produce.
She explained that the challenges on food systems might be worse than that of previous years.
"Flooding has been in town for 10 years. It's now becoming an annual crisis, destroying farms and food supplies," she said.
Major challenges, solutions
The Managing Partner, Sahel Consulting, Temitope Adegoroye, noted that Nigeria is facing significant challenges in ensuring food security.
Mr Adegoroye said poor finance, limited training, lack of community support, and inadequate access to information are major obstacles to achieving food sufficiency in the country.
"Finance is a major challenge, training is another critical challenge," he said.
He emphasised the need for specific technical skills as well as business and enterprise education for farmers to better understand farming practices and to avoid mistakes that would result in losses.
Mr Adegoroye also noted that community support is essential for food security adding that entrepreneurship requires a supportive community, including business and investment support to help them produce on a large scale.
The Programme Coordinator, Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Ogechi Okebugwu, highlighted the challenges faced by women in agriculture, particularly in land ownership.
Ms Okebugwu noted that a significant challenge faced by women in agriculture is the precarious nature of land ownership.
She explained that some women farmers lease farmland, only to face sudden eviction by landowners just before harvest time.
Rising food costs
Food prices in Nigeria have been on the rise in recent years, a trend that worsened in 2023 following President Bola Tinubu's decision to remove petrol subsidies and allow the naira to float. In response to growing concerns about food shortages and high inflation, the government declared a state of emergency on food insecurity.
According to Nigeria's Bureau of Statistics (NBS), food inflation surged to 39.16 per cent year-on-year in October 2024, up from 31.52 per cent in October 2023.
The Bureau said the 7.64 percentage point increase was driven by sharp rises in the prices of staples such as guinea corn, rice, maize grains, and yam, as well as palm oil, vegetable oil, and beverages like Milo, Lipton, and Bournvita.
On a monthly basis, food inflation rose to 2.94 per cent in October, compared to 2.64 per cent in September, reflecting a 0.30 percentage point increase.
The higher monthly rate was attributed to rising costs of palm and vegetable oils, fish varieties including mudfish and croaker, meat products such as dried beef and goat meat, and cereal-based items like bread and plantain flour.
The average annual food inflation rate for the 12 months ending October 2024 was 38.12 per cent, representing an 11.79 percentage point rise from the 26.33 per cent recorded in October 2023.
Many agricultural producers have scaled back their output due to insecurity and unpredictable weather conditions affecting rural areas.
Aside from tough government policies causing high prices of staple foods, perennial flooding disasters have further worsened food availability, affordability, and accessibility, leaving millions in dire humanitarian need.
Aside from the perennial floods, other drivers of declining food security in Africa's most populous country include massive post-harvest losses, effects of climate change, and land degradation, which have reduced the fertility and productivity of farmlands.
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The World Bank's food security report for September 2024 ranked Nigeria as the fifth country hardest hit by food inflation in the world and the third in Africa, trailing Malawi and Liberia.
This assessment is reflected on the global hunger ranking chart, with Nigeria emerging 110th out of the 127 countries in the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI). With 28.8 points on the Index, Nigeria is among countries with "serious" hunger levels.
MDC 2024
The three-day conference kicked off on Monday and will continue until Wednesday. The maiden edition of the CJID's Excellence in Media award will be held on the last day alongside the organisation's 10th anniversary.
The conference brings together media professionals, academics, policymakers, civil society leaders, and technology experts to explore how media and technology can drive inclusive and sustainable development across Africa amidst global shifts.
The conference features in-depth discussions, panel sessions, and workshops highlighting the critical role of media and technology in shaping Africa's development future.
