FG: Nigeria Susceptible to Food Insecurity Due to Climate Change
Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The federal government has raised the alarm that the nation was at the risk of food insecurity as it was susceptible to adverse effects of climate change such as erratic rainfall, draught and flooding.
The government also noted that this might have a trickling effect on security as food security was the first step to national security, anywhere in the globe.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, said this yesterday in Abuja, at the Pre-Food Systems Stock-Taking Moment Media Engagement, organized by Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Collaboration with United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).
Umakhihe, who was represented by the Director, Nutrition and Food Security in the Ministry, Mrs. Sugrat Mahmood, said: “Nigeria is susceptible to adverse effects of climate change such as erratic rainfall, draught and flooding.”
According to him, “One of the major challenges to food security in Nigeria is climate change. It has precipitated a lot of conflicts between farmers and herders. The conflict is being driven by struggle for resources. Nigeria is susceptible to adverse effects of climate change such as erratic rainfall, draught and flood.
“In the past couple of years, we have seen escalation in extreme whether event, particularly flooding, which has strangulated small holder farmers’ investment. This climate variation caused significant threat to crops and livestock production, leading to reduced yields and economic loses,”
The Permanent Secretary, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Nebeolisa Anako, said the media engagement was to update and inform the general public and all stakeholders on the upcoming United Nations Food System Summit which was Stock Taking Moment on implementation of the Food Systems Transformation Pathways in Nigeria.
The Country Programme Analyst, West and Central Africa Division, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Mr. Adebayo Ogunniyi, said, the challenges that lied ahead of the world in food security, were immense, and complex.
The Country Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Dr. Michael Ojo, said, Nigeria was amongst the few countries that had taken concrete steps to transform the promises and intentions that were made in 2021, when the country shared its national food system transformation pathways with the rest of the world at the UN food system summit in 2021.
