3 Life-Saving Strategies to Combat Food Crisis in 2024

Nigeria's annual inflation rate has maintained an upward surge for the past 9 months now to 21.09% in October 2022, from 20.77% recorded in the previous month and financial analysts believe that it will rise to 22.2% by the end of 2022. As of today, it is obvious that things have never been this bad in the life of many.  With the prices of foodstuffs skyrocketing to levels never seen before and worst is that the worst may have not been seen just yet.  In all of this food crisis and shortages, is your family endangered by the hike in prices? What is your plan B? What survival strategy are you adopting? Share with us in the comment section below 👇.  Let us know what you think are the reasons why the food crisis may heighten in 2024 and the things you are doing or planning to do to limit the impact of the new reality in your locality.

While Nigeria was grappling with the highest inflation rate in recent history and the consequent worrying levels of food insecurity, the situation got exacerbated by another monumental man-induced deserter.  The 2022 flood in Nigeria was the most devastating in recent times.  According to the government report, the flood destroyed about 272,000 acres (110,000 hectares) of farmland, but the figure from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that the total farmland destroyed by the flood could be almost seven times higher than what was reported by government authorities.

Over 600 people have died and 1.3 million others displaced, this is according to Sadiya Umar Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs.  Kabir Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told AFP

Flooding is still ongoing but we can safely say that between 60 to 75 per cent of the yield we expected is going to be lost,

The Reasons Why Nigeria's food crisis may worsen

As we wait for the November inflation report, which experts have predicted to surge upward still.  You will remember that the food inflation year-on-year for October was already as high as 23.3%,  partly because of the ripple effects of the mixture of:

Lingering Insecurity: Insecurity characterized by insurgency and banditry, Farmers-headers conflicts have plagued agriculture in parts of the country with gunmen repeatedly attacking rural communities, killing scores and causing the rest of farming communities to abandon their farms to seek safety in the cities.  This has consistently reduced the size of cultivated land and food production in Nigeria.

Coronavirus Pandemic: the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, where countries were on lockdown for several months has not left the world the same way it met it.  Many countries of the world are still grappling with the devastating effect, Nigeria inclusive.

Wars and Conflicts: the war in Ukraine has not helped the food situation in most import-dependent countries like Nigeria.  Ukraine is a major producer of wheat, and the war in that country disrupted major export routes which affected their capacity to export their wheat and Nigeria happened to depend heavily on Ukraine and Russian wheat.  With no end in sight for the war in Ukraine and the insecurity in the north, the reality of serious food shortages in Nigeria may be more eminent and severe than projected.

Import Dependency: The dollarization, and import-dependent nature of the Nigerian economy is a serious disservice to the country. Because we import everything and depend on the dollars for these importations, the price of the dollar affects everything we do in Nigeria.  Disruption in other countries affects Nigeria the same way, if not more because of the dependency on the country’s productive sector to service one aspect of the Nigerian economy or another or to feed ourselves.

Flooding:  The devastating flood that destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland was a nail in the coffin for Nigeria’s teaming population and an easy excuse for the governments at all levels whose ineptitude was largely responsible for the devastating nature of the flood.

Lack of Investment: The neglect and lack of investment in the real farmers in particular and the sector in general, especially since the inception of this administration in 2015 whose results suggest nothing but lip service in investing in agriculture has been a major source of concern for many.  One would be right to say that the billions of Naira in CBN loans to "agric loans" and the budgetary allocations over the years by different governments have been going into a waste pipe.  There is still a lack of appropriate investment in the sector as different governments have always paid little or no attention to agriculture and food production, focusing on oil as the major export product for the country even though oil production contributes less than agriculture to the county’s GDP.

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The 3 Life-Saving Tips That Can Help Us Pull Through

For those who have the means and well-to-, and the capacity to even relocate abroad as currently going on in massive proportions, this may not be for you.  But for the rest of us who are here, adopting the following survival strategies may help us all through the period of the impending food shortage and economic downturn or at least reduce its impact to the barest minimum.

1. Plant Something:  This is not the time to allow any inch of land space to waste in your backyard or neighbourhood. Nigeria is endowed with a total of 79 million hectares of agricultural land, but only 44% is being cultivated, according to the minister of agriculture.  Even if planting vegetables in sacks or containers, by all means, do so, the things you plant now can be a lifesaver tomorrow. We as a people and government cannot continue to pay lip service to agriculture. The war in Ukraine is said to be a major contributing factor to food inflation not just in Nigeria but the rest of the world. Ukraine has about 34.3 million hectares of arable, a far cry from what Nigeria has but Ukraine is where many are looking for supplies.

2. Become A Farmer:  Prices of foodstuff in the markets today must have shown you that the days of associating poverty and suffering with farming are long gone because anybody now who can feed the people is the real king.  If you are unemployed, underemployed or not breaking even in your choice of business either as a result competitive nature or its relevance in a downward economy.  In choosing a business in times like these we must pay attention to those businesses that are resection and agriculture happens to be one of them.  There are various aspects of farming other than crop cultivation, some you can do without dirtying your hands with soil (e.g., mushroom farming). There are many such or you can go into processing and packaging.

3. Loan You Idle Funds To Our Agric Venture:  Yes! You read right, our sister company, Noble Agric Ventures is setting up a massive farm in Abia state and it's currently sourcing for funds, so even if you don’t want to get involved directly you could still participate in the Agric business by committing your idle funds thereby helping to feed the nations.  Contact us for details on that. Also, do not forget to do your due diligence before committing your funds to any venture.

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Conclusion

Lack of appropriate investment in the sector as different governments have paid little or no attention to agriculture and food production, focusing on oil as the major export product for the country. According to Wikipedia, Nigeria is the 9th country in the ranks of countries with the fastest cultivatable land in the world above Ukraine as such Nigeria should be able to at least feed itself. The World Bank report shows that last year the country imported around a seventh of its food despite the board closure which they claimed has increased food production in the country.  Before the floods, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that Nigeria was among six countries facing a high risk of calamitous levels of hunger and food crisis.  What does this mean for us in Nigeria?  It only points to one thing, the risk of acute food shortage in Nigeria is real and will require the commitment of all to avert it.

That is it on today’s post on reasons why the food crisis may heighten into 2023 [3 life-saving tips] and I really hoped it was helpful. Now let us hear from you in the comment box

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 Shalom!