According to a report released Friday, over 33 million Nigerians will go hungry in the coming year, a number that will increase significantly as the effects of conflict and climate change are made worse by skyrocketing food prices.
The nutrition situation in 26 crisis-hit states in the north and center of Nigeria is reported twice a year in the “Cadre Harmonise” report, which is put together by Nigerian officials, UN agencies, and significant aid NGOs.
Even at the height of this year’s harvest season, 25.1 million Nigerians are already facing “acute food insecurity,” according to the most recent statistics, as a result of floods and sharp price increases.
This number may increase to 33.1 million the following year as the depreciating value of the Nigerian naira drives up the cost of food imports and the elimination of fuel subsidies makes distribution and delivery more expensive.
According to a World Food Programme statement, “nearly 800,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and approximately 5.4 million children from six of the most affected states are at risk of acute malnutrition or wasting.”
“A startling 1.8 million of these children may suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and need vital nutrition treatment.”
Since 2009, Islamist insurgencies have afflicted northeastern Nigeria; banditry and kidnapping gangs are active throughout the country’s north; and the area has become increasingly arid due to deforestation and climate change.
Rivalries between farming communities and nomadic herdsmen have occasionally turned violent as a result of the violence and desertification.
As prices for rice and beans rise,
Food prices have increased as a result of the Nigerian economy’s current state, even though these long-term issues still exist.
The report mentions President Bola Tinubu’s decision to end a decades-old fuel subsidy last year as well as the ongoing devaluation of the Nigerian currency relative to the US dollar.
In June of the following year, the annual rate of inflation in food prices was 40.9 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports that between October 2023 and October 2024, the price of beans increased by 282 percent. Rice grown locally increased by 153%.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 1.6 million hectares of farmland were submerged in a swath of central Nigeria last month due to severe flooding and torrential rains.
In the flooded areas, the combined annual production losses for rice, sorghum, and maize could be roughly 1.1 million tonnes. According to the statement, this could provide food for 13 million people for a year.
Tinubu’s administration has temporarily suspended import taxes on specific imports in response to food shortages and price inflation.
A more thorough analysis of the report with particular recommendations is due, as the UN has called on foreign donors and the Nigerian government to take further action to prevent the crisis.
