Agric In Nigeria (July Edition): Nigeria’s food crisis deepens amid nationwide protests

Nigeria’s food crisis deepened in August as governments scrambled for solutions amid widespread anger and discontent among the people.

Within the month, the food crisis manifested not only in the activities of crop farmers but also in the anguish of poultry owners.

The continuous increase in the prices of goods and services over the past year has chased some of the farmers out of business, a poultry farmer said, adding that many have already cut down on their production quantity amidst fears that feed producers might have also compromised livestock feed qualities due to skyrocketing prices of feed ingredients.

“There is no money in circulation. The purchasing power has dropped to an unimaginable level,” a former president of the Kaduna State chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Timothy Okunade, told PREMIUM TIMES, adding that poultry products are now luxury as far as Nigerian society is concerned.

At the time, Mr Okunade lamented that a bag of maize and soybeans, essential ingredients for feed formulation, sold for prices ranging between N85,000 to N87,000 per bag in his region.

This, he said, is affecting the industry because the higher the prices of these products (soybeans and maize), the higher the price of finished products (feedstock).

“As of today, eggs are selling from farms at N4,000/crate. I don’t know how much an egg is being sold at the retailer’s end,” Mr Okunade said, stating that a man who has not eaten since morning, or who is probably receiving N20,000 as salary, cannot afford to buy it conveniently anymore.

In the previous year, Mr Okunade said a bag of maize was sold at the rate of N50,000 to N60,000 but things took a turn due to the economic crisis.

“This is the first time in the history of Nigeria or the industry (maize/Soy would be selling for N87,000 and above). The worst period was when we bought a bag of maize for N20,000, not knowing that we had not reached anywhere,” the farmer said.

As the cost-of-living crisis worsened across the country, President Bola Tinubu unveiled some proactive measures to address skyrocketing food prices.

According to a statement by Mr Tinubu’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the measures will be “implemented over the next 180 days.”

Mr Onanuga, quoting Agriculture Minister Abubakar Kyari, said Mr Tinubu approved a “150-Day Duty-Free Import Window for Food Commodities”, including “Maize, Husked Brown Rice, Wheat and Cowpeas.”

Mr Kyari said while there are ongoing agricultural initiatives, programmes and projects under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, state governments also have theirs.

“We must respond to the creeping availability crisis. As the government continues to encourage agricultural production on a sustainable and profitable basis for farmers, the time lag between cultivation and harvest makes it inevitable for the Government to kick in stop-gap measures that will bring tremendous relief to Nigerians,” he said.

To address concerns in the livestock subsector, Mr Tinubu also suggested the creation of a livestock ministry as part of efforts to improve meat and dairy production and reduce violence between migrant herders and farmers.

However, following the announcement, the President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina said the decision by Nigeria’s government to allow massive food importation risks destroying the country’s agriculture.

“Nigeria’s recently announced policy to open its borders for massive food imports, just to tackle short-term food price hikes, is depressing. Nigeria cannot rely on the importation of food to stabilise prices. Nigeria should be producing more food to stabilise food prices while creating jobs and reducing foreign exchange spending that will further help stabilise the Naira,” Mr Adesina said.

“Nigeria cannot import its way out of food insecurity,” he said, “Nigeria must not be turned into a food import-dependent nation.”

While the federal government struggles to tackle the cost of living crisis, governments at the subnational level listed out plans to complement the federal government efforts.

Jigawa State Government said it has set aside N3.3 billion as loans for its civil servants under its Agricultural Support Programme.

Flagging off the disbursement of the loan in Dutse, the state capital on 15 July, Governor Umar Namadi, said the initiative aims to address food security, grant economic empowerment, and improve the lives of civil servants in the state.

On 18 July, the Kano State Government began the distribution of N1 billion worth of fertilisers to small-holder farmers in the state. Governor Abba Yusuf, during the ceremony at the Government House in Kano, said the distribution was in fulfilment of his campaign promise to improve livelihood through investment in agribusiness.

In Taraba, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security commenced the aerial spread of chemicals to control quelea bird infestation of farms in the state for enhanced food security.

In July, the country was also faced with the controversy over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Some environmentalists argued that the move to commercialise GMO seeds would have far-reaching consequences in Nigeria and across Africa.

But in his response, the Director General, National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NABRDA), Abdullahi Mustapha, said the ongoing debate regarding the safety of GMO plants on human and environmental health in Nigeria has been reignited by the introduction of the Tela Maize.

Amidst controversy trailing the commercialisation of the Genetically Modified (GM) corn variety in Nigeria, the Acting Director General of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Khalid Ishiak, on 4 July said there are 40 metric tons of Tela maize variety within Nigeria for farmers at the moment.

“The quantity of Tela maize in the country surprised us because all we did was that by the time the farmers would need them, we would not have zero. For now, it is just a small quantity of breeder seeds and 40 metric tons. Only 40 metric tons, which is still within,” Mr Ishiak said.

Meanwhile, food inflation jumped significantly within the period, according to data published by the nation’s statistics bureau.

According to the bureau, the food inflation rate in June 2024 rose 40.87 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.62 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023 (25.25 per cent).

The unprecedented jump in food prices across the country, in addition to other socio-economic dysfunctions, fueled the ongoing protests across many parts of the country.