"Nigeria Losing Battle Against Hunger as Food Inflation Persists"

" Nigeria Losing Battle Against Hunger as Food Inflation Persists \r\n\r\nThree years ago, Jelili Adewale, a father of three living in Lagos, needed N100,000 every month to feed his family. Today, he spends more than double with stagnant income.\r\n\r\n\u201cI earn N300,000 monthly, but food alone takes up almost N200,000 now,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s nearly 70 percent of my salary gone before we talk about rent, school fees, or transport.\u201d\r\n\r\nJelili\u2019s story is no longer uncommon. Across Nigeria, families are reeling under the weight of food inflation that has turned even basic meals into luxuries. From urban slums in Lagos to farming communities in Benue, the cry is the same: hunger is winning.\r\n\r\n Warnings from the world \r\n\r\nIn the North-East, where insurgency has lingered for nearly two decades, the World Food Programme (WFP) recently warned that 3.5 million people are at risk of starvation. But hunger has long spread beyond the conflict zones.\r\n\r\nFrom Lagos to Makurdi, Sokoto to Abakaliki, the cry is the same: food is just too expensive.\r\n\r\nIn June, a joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and WFP named Nigeria as one of 13 hunger hotspots in the world needing urgent help. But ask anyone on the street and you\u2019ll hear that help hasn\u2019t arrived.\r\n\r\nWhile Nigeria\u2019s headline inflation rate has slowed for three consecutive months, food inflation remains stubbornly high. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), food inflation rose to 21.97% in June, up from 21.14% in May.\r\n\r\nAt the heart of this crisis lies a perfect storm: climate shocks, insurgency, economic mismanagement, and systemic corruption. Together, they have disrupted food systems and eroded the purchasing power of households.\r\n\r\n From jollof to luxury \r\n\r\nNothing captures the economic hardship more vividly than the Jollof Index, a tool developed by SBM Intelligence to track the cost of preparing a simple pot of jollof rice. Once a weekend staple for Nigerian families, the dish has become a metaphor for the nation\u2019s hunger.\r\n\r\nIn 2016, preparing jollof rice for a family of five cost just over N4,000. Today, that same meal gulps N28,000, according to SBM\u2019s latest report titled \u201cThe Crushing Cost of a Pot.\u201d For the average Nigerian family, that\u2019s nearly half the minimum monthly wage, spent on a single meal.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s not just jollof rice. A 50kg bag of rice now sells for N90,000, up from N30,000 before June 2023. A loaf of bread that cost N750 in the same period now goes for N1,500. The struggle to feed a family is no longer just a concern of the poor; it\u2019s reaching into Nigeria\u2019s middle class.\r\n\r\n\u201cJust three years ago, I used to buy a tuber of yam for a thousand naira, but the same size now costs N4,000,\u201d said Olabisi Jimoh, a mother of two in Egbeda area of Lagos.\r\n\r\nIn towns and villages across Nigeria, children are missing school due to malnutrition. Farmers are abandoning their land due to insecurity. Urban workers are skipping lunch just to save money.\r\n\r\nPeriodic droughts and floods have also become more intense, devastating farms across the country. Meanwhile, banditry and insurgency have displaced thousands of farmers, leading to fallow lands and broken supply chains.\r\n\r\n Root causes: More than inflation \r\n\r\nWhile inflation often dominates headlines, experts say the real drivers of Nigeria\u2019s food crisis run deeper.\r\n\r\nIbrahim Kabiru, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), points to a combination of insecurity, climate change, low mechanisation, and poor policy implementation.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are too many policies that never get properly implemented,\u201d Kabiru said. \u201cAnd our farmers need an environment where they can go to their farms without fear of being kidnapped or killed.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe also highlighted the impact of weak purchasing power as a result of economic reforms. \u201cWe\u2019ve removed subsidies, fuel prices are up, and it affects everything, including the cost of food,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n Multiple policies, broken promises and abused interventions \r\n\r\nThe roots of the crisis stretch back several administrations. The Buhari government launched multiple agriculture initiatives, the most ambitious being the Anchor Borrowers\u2019 Programme (ABP), introduced in 2015 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).\r\n\r\nIn theory, the programme was a game-changer, linking smallholder farmers with large processors and providing access to funding. The CBN claims it disbursed over N1.09 trillion under the programme between 2015 and 2023.\r\n\r\nBut according to Bashir Ahmad, former digital communications aide to the late Buhari, the programme was \u201cgrossly abused.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSome farmers received loans running into billions, some even up to N6 billion, but instead of investing in agriculture, many diverted the funds to other sectors like oil and gas, bureau de change, and other luxury ventures,\u201d Ahmad said in a recent X (formerly Twitter) discussion.\r\n\r\n\u201cThose who actually farmed? After harvesting, they hoarded their produce, waiting for prices to spike so they could make exaggerated profits.\u201d\r\n\r\nKabiru, earlier quoted, agrees: \u201cThe programme was poorly implemented and riddled with corruption. People came with briefcases pretending to be farmers. Instead of empowering real farmers to produce, they took the money and went to the market to buy food to resell. That\u2019s part of what triggered the inflation we see now.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe added that many of the \u2018prime anchors\u2019 received billions without accountability. \u201cThey felt it was their share of the national cake,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nThe Tinubu administration has responded with a flurry of measures: import waivers, tractor imports from Belarus, and renewed calls for mechanised farming. Last year, the government announced that it would waive import duties on essential food items like rice, wheat, and maize in a bid to drive down prices.\r\n\r\nHowever, the impact of these moves remains largely invisible. In most markets, food prices continue to soar, and many Nigerians are spending the bulk of their income on food.\r\n\r\n What needs to change? \r\n\r\nExperts say solving the food crisis requires more than policy tweaks; it demands a complete overhaul of how Nigeria approaches food systems.\r\n\r\n\u201cYes, they\u2019ve started bringing in tractors,\u201d Kabiru acknowledged. \u201cBut a single tractor now costs N60 to N70 million. No smallholder farmer can afford that. We need group ownership, long-term repayment plans, or leasing systems.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe also emphasised the need for affordable small equipment, improved research-to-farm linkages, and consistent government policies that encourage private sector investment.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou can\u2019t keep changing policies and expect the private sector to invest heavily,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government owns no farms. Their job is to create an enabling environment, peace, access to credit, and support for technology adoption.\u201d"

"Nigeria Losing Battle Against Hunger as Food Inflation Persists"

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