Browsing: Food security

Nigeria, as a developing country, has a pocket of rotten eggs but is endowed with kindhearted people who give a helping hand to people in need. Hajia Salamatu Garba is a benevolent personality who founded the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) to provide hope to the hopeless. The story of WOFAN creation is a heartwarming and motivational tale of how an act of kindness from one person can spark a lifetime dedication to helping the unfortunate and rescuing those in need.

My last week’s piece closed with a poser: Are the two Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security, Senators Kyari and Abdullahi, capable of breaking the jinx of poverty and hunger associated with Nigerians? Answering this question requires an in-depth analysis of Tinubu’s policy and direction toward achieving food security for Nigeria. Petroleum subsidy withdrawal skyrocketed the fuel price by 217% that caused astronomical cost of living. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security on July 14, 2023, to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. As I wrote in this Column, the declaration of emergency is the best policy pronouncement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT).

Food security refers to the situation when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. Food security is a state in which food is quantitatively and qualitatively available, accessible, and affordable to meet the nutritional needs of the people over a given period. People are food-secured when they have physical and economic access to enough food for active and healthy living. Therefore, food security for people in a community, state, or nation is entrenched in four pillars: quantitative, qualitative, accessibility, and time. The difficulty of attaining food security surges with increased population and economic meltdown, making achieving food security in Nigeria arduous. What has been the food security situation in Nigeria?