In the course of the week, there were several warnings about an impending food crisis in the country. Farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector, raised an alarm over the impending food crisis in the country baring urgent government intervention. The President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) warned that should the prices of fertilizer continue to rise, this year’s rainy season farming and harvest will be affected and of course, that will mean reduction in food supply to the citizens.
In his words, “Last year, because the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) did not give the usual subsidy to supply 20:10:10 at N5, 500, farmers could not afford the commodity as in previous years and this is directly proportional to the hike in food prices today and if the prices of fertilizer remain like this, there will definitely be corresponding food inflation in the country.” Investigation shows that the average price of a 50kg bag of NPK fertilizer, mostly used by Nigerian smallholder farmers, has surged by 112.5 percent to N17,000 from last year’s N8,000.  Similarly, a 50kg bag of urea fertilizer sold for N6,000 last year, now goes for N17,000.
Still within the week, the Executive Secretary, ECOWAS Rice Observatory, Dr  Boladale Adebowale, disclosed that about 19.4 million Nigerians will face food crisis, and nutrition insecurity by August this year, owing to insecurity, adverse weather conditions, climate change, low mechanisation, poor seed quality and varieties, low access to agric credit, low agro-processing capacity, low investment in agricultural research, high prevalence of systemic inefficiencies and other factors threatening the agricultural sector. These reports are very scary, to say the least. Already, it is very hard for many people to feed their families due to the high cost of food items in the markets. There is virtually no food item whose price has not tripled in the past couple of months, yet the salaries of workers, particularly the government workers remain the same and we are told to expect harder days?
Not even the assurance of the President of African Development Bank (AFDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, that Africa will not experience food crisis because of the “High 5” programmes of the bank which centre on feed Africa, can assuage this fear. Nigeria’s case might be different from that of other African countries that the AFDB was talking about. We are on ground and we know that many Nigerians are dying of hunger. I belong to the welfare committee of my church which caters for the downtrodden in the society. People donate bags of rice, beverages, condiments and other food items which are shared to the poor weekly. It is heart wrenching seeing the large number of families that always queue up for the tiny quantities of food. Some of them tell tales of how that might be the only sure food for their families in many days.
Sadly, this is happening in a country where those in authority both at the federal and state levels are busy embezzling billions of naira meant for the poor masses; where politicians are dolling out N100million each to purchase party presidential forms. Yes, we know that there is a global surge in fertilizer prices, occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine crisis that has cut off shipments from the Black Sea region that accounts for 30 percent of the major grain trade and at least 12 percent of food calories traded. We are not oblivious of the fact that with the disruption in the global supply chain caused by the crisis in the black sea region that accounts for almost a third of the world’s wheat export, Africa, of course Nigeria inclusive, now faces a shortage of at least 30 million metric tons of food, especially wheat, maize, and soybeans imported from both countries.
But the question remains, over the years, what has the government at various levels done to increase food production in the country and how are they taking advantage of the present precarious food situation to boost our local production of both fertilizer and other agricultural products that will enhance adequate food production in the nation?
During the commissioning of the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertilizer plant at Ibeju-Lekki, by President Muhammadu Buhari, last March, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, made bold to announce that the number of fertilizer blending plants in Nigeria, has risen from seven to over 48, since the assumption of office by Buhari in 2015, adding that 35 million blended bags of fertilizer have been produced in the country within the last five years.Many analysts have however wondered about the positive impact of the said increased numbers of fertilizer plants since fertilizer, a critical input needed to boost the fertility of farmlands, is still beyond the reach of many farmers. They have also warned of the danger of allowing one capitalist to monopolise fertilizer production industry in the country, emphasising that that might not make fertilizer affordable, especially going by what obtains in the cement industry where Dangote cements are cheaper in other African countries than in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians will therefore want to see more competition in the fertilizer production business through the government’s establishment of more fertilizer plants in different parts of the country or creating a conducive atmosphere for other private investors to do so.Agricultural experts have called for the use of the right policy and technology to curb post-harvest losses in order to boost food production and lower the prices of foodstuffs in Nigeria. They insist that reduction in post-harvest losses and food processing must be encouraged in order to curb food shortage in Nigeria. Studies have shown that African post-harvest loss can be as high as 50 percent in vegetables, fruits and root tubers and 25 percent in cereals. Proper processing of these large quantities of items will definitely make a huge difference.
Meanwhile, the much talked about insecurity in the country is still a big factor in the clog of the wheel of sufficient food production in the country. And until something is done towards curbing the spate of insecurity across the country, all efforts towards forestalling the food crisis in the country might be futile. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports, over 70 percent of Nigerians work in the agriculture sector, mainly at subsistence level.  A good number of these people have either fled their homes because they are afraid of being attacked by gunmen terrorising different parts of the country or they are still in their communities but can no longer carry on with their faming activities for the fear of being kidnapped or killed or their farmlands have been taken over by the gunmen.
For instance, a good number of businessmen who went into tomatoes and other crops farming in Anambra State some years back are said to have closed shops due to the criminal activities of unknown gunmen who have made the state very uninhabitable. It is therefore imperative that to avert the looming food crisis in the nation, the government should take sincere measures towards solving the insecurity problem in the country. Some people have often opined that if the politicians and those in power put their selfish or whatever interest behind and work towards bringing an end to the insecurity problems that is tearing this country apart, there will be a remarkable change and there is no better truth.
Again, the endemic corruption in the nation must be addressed if this country must move forward.

By: Calista Ezeaku