Food insecurity: UN allocates $11 million to Nigeria

Towards addressing the worsening food crisis in Nigeria’s North-east the United Nations has announced the allocation of $11 million to the country.

The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffith, who disclosed this on Wednesday on X, the microblogging site, said the allocation was drawn from the UN Central Emergency Response Funds (UNCERF).

Mr Griffith said acute malnutrition in the country is heightening at a rapid pace, even as he noted that food insecurity is at its worst state in seven years.

He said: “Acute malnutrition is increasing rapidly in North-east Nigeria and food insecurity has reached the highest level in seven years.

“To provide immediate support to the most vulnerable, I’ve allocated $11 million from UNCERF”.

UNCERF is a UN programme that allows the international organisation to offer immediate funding to those affected by disasters caused by nature, wars, and other emergencies.

The food crisis in the country’s North-east, according to Mr Griffiths, is considered a challenge that requires urgent attention.

FAO projection

Nigeria’s food security problem had been projected to worsen due to the insecurity and violent crisis ravaging parts of the country.

In 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) projected that over 31.5 million people in Nigeria would face acute food insecurity between June and August 2024.

According to the FAO data, the prevalence of food insecurity was expected, affecting more of the population than had been predicted in the year before.

The data noted that population of affected persons would rise from 26.5 million to more than 31.5 million persons.

The World Food Agency in its Cadre Harmonise Report released also said Nigeria was grappling with multiple security challenges which had affected food production and access.

According to the report, other factors will contribute to the alarming food insecurity, including conflicts in the North-east, North-central and North-west; fuel scarcity, naira devaluation, currency crisis, rising inflation and consumer price index.

Staples decline

Farmers across the country have begun reporting a decline in the production of some staple food, blaming a variety of reasons including flooding due to climate change.

Data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Statista projected a slight decrease in the production of rice in Nigeria from 5.355 million metric tonnes to around 5.229 million metric tonnes between the 2023 and 2024 marketing year.

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For crops like maize, production was expected to decrease by 8 per cent, falling from 12.75 million metric tonnes in 2021 to 11 million metric tons this year.

Guinea Corn (Sorghum) production was expected to fall from about 6.742 million metric tonnes to 6,700 million tonnes.

Analysts say regional instability, which has caused the displacement of around 3.3 million people, climate change and inflation are the major triggers of food insecurity in Nigeria.

However, the situation worsened after the government stopped paying subsidies on petrol, leading to increasing costs for food, transportation and energy.