(https://pixabay.com/photos/african-farm-farmer-countryside-5973527)
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a population of over 206milion people. According to The World Bank,the Nigerian population will increase to 500milion people in 2050.
Despite being densely populated, Nigeria has not being able to produce enough food for her ever growing population. As a result the country has been suffering from hunger, poverty and malnutrition
Four things are largely responsible for Nigerian's low food production, farmers/herders clashes, insurgency, lack of mechanized farming systems and poor storage facilities.
For 6years now, farmers and herders has been fighting endlessly,this fighting between farmers and herders has resulted in the killing of more than 6000 people mostly farmers. The fight started as a result of nomadic cattle rearers feeding their animals on farmers' crops,the farmers in turn began to retaliate by killing the herders cows whenever they feed on their food crops. The fight has since degenerated into a national crisis,but unfortunately the government and relevant authorities has been paying deaf ears to the crisis which has cost so many lives of innocent citizens. It has also thrown the nation into food crisis.
Insurgency for the past 12years has been affecting food productions in Nigeria. This is so because the northern part of the country is the only place where mechanized farming is practiced in the country. It is very painful that this part of the country where mechanized farming is practiced is being terrorized by insurgents who has been killing,raping, kidnapping and robbing farmers at will. It is very common to hear that farmers are killed or kidnapped while working in their farm lands. Many farmers has been displaced from their homes,while others has fled to other parts of the country and even neighbouring countries of Chad,Cameroon and Niger for safety .
Mechanized farming that is practiced in the northern part of the country is only by the few rich and middle class people in the region,as poverty index is very high the north. Irrigation is also a most as the northern part of the country is mostly desert, although it has a vast land mass.This has made it difficult for the poor to own their own farms, instead they work for the rich and the middle class,thereby limiting food production. In the southern part of the country that is free from insurgency,land tenure system that is mostly communal has prevented people from practicing commercial farming,coupled with limited land mass.
Poor storage facilities has be affecting food security in Nigeria and Africa at large.The farmers after harvesting their crops are only faced with the option of selling it off to consumers or leaving it to spoil as there are no good storage facilities to store it. As a result of this,a very large quantities of food crops are lost annually.
Till date,the governments both states and federal has not come up with strategies and policies to address these problems. And so food shortage lingers and prizes of food stuffs keep skyrocketing.
References
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report Q3 2019, National Bureau of Statistics.
Olomola Ade S. (2007) “Strategies for Managing the Opportunities and Challenges of the Current Agricultural Commodity Booms in SSA” in Seminar Papers on Managing Commodity Booms in Sub-Saharan (: Africa: A Publication of the AERC Senior Policy Seminar IX. African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi, Kenya
Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep (2013). "Climate Change and Agriculture: A Review of Impacts and Adaptations". Climate Change Series 91 Environment Department Papers, World Bank, Washington, D.C.