Nigeria is experiencing a serious and escalating food crisis as the country enters the second half of the year. Several causes are causing a sharp decline in farm output, including rising input costs, growing levels of insecurity, and the effects of climate change.
This combination of difficulties poses a threat to worsen the food crisis and cause millions of Nigerians to suffer from starvation.
Growing Input Costs: A Significant Obstacle
The increase in input costs is one of the main causes of the food crisis. A market survey conducted by The News Chronicles sees that the average cost of a 50kg NPK fertilizer has increased by 49% in only a single year, from N26,000 in 2023 to N53,000 now. Nigeria imports 34% of the raw materials required to produce fertilizer, hence the country’s exchange rate crisis is mostly to blame for this price increase.
Foreign currency is required to import vital ingredients such as granular ammonium, phosphate, and potash, which are necessary for manufacturing NPK fertilizer, which is utilized by millions of smallholder farmers.
The cost of this fertilizer blend has risen by 117%, from an average of N17,500 in 2023 to N38,000 in 2024, although Nigeria sources all of its urea’s basic components domestically. This rise is a clear sign of the wider inflationary pressures the agriculture industry is experiencing.
There have also been significant price hikes for agrochemicals. In the last year, the prices of herbicides like Paraforce, Glyview, Forceup, and Dragin have increased by more than 100%. For example, the price of Glyview tripled from N7,500 in 2023 to over N23,000 in 2024. Farmers are finding it more and more difficult to purchase the inputs needed to sustain and increase crop yields as a result of these skyrocketing expenses.
Insecurity: A Growing Threat
The security situation has drastically gotten worse in Nigeria’s food-belt regions, which include Benue, Kaduna, and Plateau. The food situation has worsened as a result of terrorist attacks that have uprooted grain farmers and endangered fish producers.
The CEO of Sammorf Agro-Consult Limited, Florunsho Olayemi, emphasizes that the nation’s inability to produce adequate food has resulted in notable shortages of the main essentials that Nigerians eat. This is because the country’s insecurity has gotten worse.
Climate Change: An Indestructible Foe
Another important factor escalating Nigeria’s food crisis is climate change. The 2024 Annual Flood Outlook projects that 148 local governments and 31 states will be affected by flooding. It’s getting harder for farmers to plan and oversee their agricultural operations due to intense weather and unpredictable weather patterns.
Food Prices and Economic Policies
Despite their audacity, President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 economic reforms have made the cost-of-living problem worse. Bread, rice, spaghetti, noodles, yam, and garri are among the staple foods whose costs have skyrocketed in the last six months. Many Nigerians are now living in food poverty as a result of the rapid increase in food prices, and many of them go to bed hungry.
President Tinubu released a plan to address the situation and declared a state of emergency on food security in July 2023. Despite this, the cost of essential foods has increased, with food inflation rising to 40.6% in May 2024 from 24.82% in May 2023.
Calls for Immediate Action
Stakeholders and analysts are urging quick action to stop the approaching catastrophe. They stress how important it is that the government deal with the pressing problems of growing input costs and instability. Food prices are predicted to rise even more in the third quarter of 2024 as a result of farmers abandoning their crops due to rising costs and unpredictable rainfall, according to Abiodun Olorundenro, Operations Manager at AquaShoots Limited.
Speaking on Channels TV, Tunde Banjoko, Managing Director of Banjoko Omotunde, emphasized how serious the issue of insecurity is and how many farmers are left having to foot the bill for their own protection. He emphasized that the lack of security has resulted in the abandonment of large tracts of agriculture, with an estimated 332 farmers slain in 2024.
End Notes
The food crisis in Nigeria is a complex issue that needs to be addressed immediately and thoroughly. To assist farmers, the government needs to lower input costs, increase security in agricultural areas, and put in place sensible economic measures. The food crisis in Africa’s most populous nation will worsen hunger and economic instability unless immediate action is taken. Action must be taken immediately since millions of Nigerians’ lives are at stake.
