Food Crisis In Nigeria.

Hello everyone. On Topical Talk, we have been discussing the global food crisis and I wanted to bring the topic down to where I live so today I am going to be telling everyone about the food crisis situation in Nigeria. Nigeria, my country is one of the most food-deficient countries in Africa. The alarmingly high level of hunger in Nigeria is connected to the high level of conflict and poverty found in the country coupled with climate change, natural disasters, and pandemic-related shocks. According to the Global Hunger Index (2022), "Nigeria ranks 103rd among 121 countries facing a hunger crisis in the world."

According to www.nigerianstat.gov.ng, "There are 133 million poor people in Nigeria. 63% of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor. The National MPI is 0.257, indicating that poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations. 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South."

According to www.borgenproject.org, "5.1 million Nigerians are malnourished. The amount of food insecure households is highest in the rural region of Borno in Nigeria."

Another report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said, "About 19.4 million people will face food insecurity across Nigeria between June and August 2022" The report also said, "the food crisis will affect Nigerians in 21 states and FCT including, 416,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)." Now in 2023, the situation is getting worse.

Nigeria's food crisis situation has reached an all-time high and it has caused a lot of people to suffer. With the coming of the covid-19 pandemic, the situation has worsened further.

According to www.frontiersin.org, "About 24% of the households were food-secured compared to 76% that was insecure during the Pandemic."

Now I have thought of some of the ways we can help to solve the food crisis problem in Nigeria and in the world at large. Here are some of the solutions I came up with:

1.) Sharing: We should try to share food with people who are hungry even in our environment. We can share the little we have with neighbors and even schoolmates. Once we do it and we get others to do it too it can help to reduce food wastage in our community and even the world at large. My siblings and I try as much as possible to take food to school to give our friends who do not have food to eat but we try as much as possible not to hurt their dignity as we are offering food to them and we also try to encourage some of our friends that can help to also bring food so that it can be given to others who do not have too. "One hand does not clap". "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"

2.) Budget every meal: Budgeting meals is very important as it helps to control the amount of food eaten. It ensures that the food purchased is exactly what is needed and hence it is not wasted. I have tried to encourage some of my friends to do it too.

3.) Reuse and recycle: Many things in the house can be reused and recycled but many people do not know about that. People can use leftover vegetables to make soup, leftover boiled yams to make yam balls, leftover egg shells can also be used to make scouring powder and many other things. Leftovers can be reused and used to make new food and food waste can also be recycled.

4.) My country Nigeria has been deteriorating in the agricultural aspect of our economy since the discovery of crude oil. This solution is at the government level. In other to boost food production in Nigeria, The federal and state governments can work hand in hand to introduce Climate-Smart Agriculture(CSA) into the system. (According to World Bank, Climate-Smart Agriculture is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries–that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.) This will give farmers the chance to produce better food with improved nutrition. If this is implemented in the country, it will help a great deal to reduce the vulnerability of crops to climate-related risks and improve their capability to acclimate and grow in the face of longer-term stresses like shortened seasons and unpredictable climate patterns. This method can also be in many other countries facing the same problems. It is an effective way to solve the food crisis problem.

Thank you for reading!

What other ways do you think the food crisis problem can be solved in Nigeria and the world at large? Feel free to write what you think below.