Food Security in Nigeria: Impetus for Growth and Development
I. A. Ayinde, Olutosin Ademola Otekunrin, Sakiru Oladele Akinbode, Oluwaseun A. Otekunrin
Abstract
One of the most important and crucial debates in the world today is how to provide sufficient food for over seven billion people in the world. In 2019, 690 million people were suffering from hunger globally while about 135 million people in 55 countries and territories were suffering from acute food insecurity with Africa accounting for 73 million of this figure. Food insecurity is one of the major challenges of most African governments occasioned by an increasing number of people living in extreme poverty, high-level corruption, incidences of conflicts/terrorism, low level of human capital and unfavorable climate change in the region. Nigeria has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty globally. The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) rank of Nigeria has been on the increase since 2013 while it was ranked 94th among 113 countries in 2019. Nigeria is facing the challenge of food insecurity, especially in the northeastern and north-central states where conflicts/insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry, cattle rustling and weather extremes are aggravating the food insecurity situation. This paper therefore recommends that the Nigerian government should redouble efforts aimed at improving food production and processing activities to ensure food security across the states and also boost exports.