Out of the approximately 201Million Nigerians, in 2019 43 Million faced severe food insecurity between 2018-2020. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that the number for the year 2021 alone will stand at 16.9Million people.
The prevalence of severe food insecurity in Nigeria has been on a steady increase as the number of people affected rose from 11.9Million for 2014-2016 to 43 Million for 2018-2020 period.
Food is a unique and important commodity that is needed by everyone for survival and so serves as an essential component of a country’s pursuit for its economic growth and development.
As a country that has prioritized its oil industry at the expense of others such as food production, food insecurity has remained a problem in the country. Action Against Hunger reports that food insecurity has remained extremely high as a result of population displacement and climate change.
The Food and Agriculture Organization notes that food insecurity has increased in Nigeria as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency and communal clashes, as many farmers are afraid of looting and being attacked. This prevents them from working on their fields resulting in loss of harvests and productive assets, as well as severely reduced purchasing power.
Would evaluation of successful interventions and result based policies and programs help to reduce the prevalence of food insecurity in Niger