CRITICAL ISSUES IN FOOD SECURITY

Government should address issues leading to post-harvest losses

Tomato fruit is a valuable source of diets for many Nigerians. But in the past few months, the country perhaps experienced one of the worst tomato shortages, propelling prices sky-high, beyond the reach of many. One of the causes of the problem which contributed to heightening the food crisis is traced to a virulent pest named “tuta absoluta,” locally called by farmers as “tomato ebola”. But the disease was not the only reason for the acute shortages. While the pestilence lasted there was invariably substantial economic loss to many of the smallholder farmers, besides posing grave threat to food security and nutrition. The problem is exacerbated by the sheer weight of waste after harvest seasons, due largely to inadequate storage and inefficient supply chains.

Unfortunately, post-harvest losses are not a one-day phenomenon. The trend is widespread and has been with many of the local farmers in Nigeria from the beginning of time. Large  amounts of vegetables, fruits,

grains, tubers, fish and all, are lost on regular basis due

to bad roads which inhibit quick  evacuation of produce to the market, poor handling of produce and lack of storage facilities. Even yam in which the country is the leading producer in the world is afflicted by large-scale wastage. 

A study of the yam value chain in the country by Sahel Partners & Advisory between 2013 and 2014, found for instance that  post-harvest losses ranged between 20 and 30 per cent, depending on the yam variety. “We don’t have storage equipment. We only preserve our yams based on how we make our storage space conducive for our yams,”  said secretary of the Association of Yam Shade Owners and Yam Sellers Zaki Biam Market, Japheth Ishenge. Farmers and traders in Benue State, food basket of the nation, record about 40 per cent of post-harvest wastage in yam, while the exposure of the tubers to heat and moisture due to the absence of safe storage houses quickens the deterioration process. Even rice, a popular staple whose price has skyrocketed, is also implicated in the huge losses because of poor network of roads, particularly in Ebonyi State, where many farmers resort to use of questionable chemicals to preserve their shelf-life.

Indeed, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari acknowledged the problem at the sixth West African Cold Chain Summit last March where he expressed worries over huge post-harvest losses in Nigeria. Kyari noted that cold chain infrastructure, encompassing refrigeration, transportation, and storage facilities, plays a crucial role in preserving the quality and nutritional value of agricultural produce from farm to the eating stage, estimating also that up to 40 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural produce is lost annually due mainly to these problems. ActionAid, a non-governmental organisation puts Nigeria’s annual post-harvest losses in 2022 at N3.5 trillion, about the same cost of the country’s imported and exported agricultural goods in that year. Thus, besides the decade-plus insurgency which has laid many of the farms to waste, the food crisis is exacerbated by large scale harvest losses which sadly has become a disincentive to many youths in the north from taking to agriculture.

As it is, many people in the agricultural belt of the nation are also caught up in the food crisis. Indeed, the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report ranked Nigeria 109th out of 125 countries. “With a score of 28.3 in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria has a level of hunger that is serious,” said GHI, a ranking that was manifest in the 10-day protests that just ended. Government, at all levels, must do more and address the issues of food security, including post-harvest losses that afflict our nation.