As the cost of living in Nigeria continues to rise on the back of factors including the removal of fuel subsidy and the free float of the naira by the Federal Government, the poor are mostly bearing the brunt.
This is particularly telling in the areas of food, shelter and transport. Most important of these is food. It is said that if food is taken out of the equation of poverty, the burden of poverty gets significantly lighter.
Unfortunately in Nigeria, food cultivation and distribution are being undermined by more than just the removal of fuel subsidy and the free float of the naira. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram and sundry terrorists frequently attack farm settlements, especially in the North, killing, maiming, kidnapping, and looting produce and other property and forcing farmers to flee their farms. Many of the farmers end up in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps while their farms lie fallow and unproductive and the arising food shortages further shoot up prices.
Rice, a staple food widely consumed in Nigeria, has been rising in price despite its production locally. Data from the selected food prices watch report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the average price of 1kg of local rice rose by 73.2 per cent from N500.80 to N867.20 between November 2022 and November 2023. The commodity now sells for between N55,000 and N60,000 for a 50kg bag, depending on the area of purchase.
In a related development, Nigeria and other countries across the West Africa region are projected to see increased prices of staple foods such as rice, maize, millet, cereals, etc. in 2024. This is according to a report titled ‘West Africa Regional Supply and Market Outlook’ published jointly by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the World Food Program, and others. Crops affected also include cassava, soya, sorghum and yam, which are key crops in the conflict-affected regions. Many of the listed countries, including Nigeria, have come under the yoke of armed insurgency and other forms of terrorism over the years.
As 2022 concluded, Nigeria was home to 3.6 million IDPs, of whom 1.9 million were living in protracted displacement in the north-eastern state of Borno. Many of these are farmers who have been forced to flee their fields with their families following sad experiences in the hands of terrorists.
In Nigeria, as in many developing countries, subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of the rural economy, improved land access and efficient land use are critical to short-term livelihoods and long-term economic transformation, and major shocks to land ownership, utilisation and arrangements have far-reaching implications for farm families and the nation at large.
Insurgency and terrorism are emerging as significant sources of shocks to agricultural and food systems, as well as land use. Estimates of the causal effects of exposure to attacks on plot ownership, cultivated land, rented land, land values and cropping patterns are alarming and make clear that meaningful intervention is needed.
It is found that an increase in the intensity of terrorist attacks results in an increase in the abandonment of farms and an increase in the percentage of land left fallow.
A basic tenet in economic development is that increased use and intensity of land in agricultural production will translate into improved production, rural incomes and livelihoods, and reduced poverty. Terrorism, in all its forms, is denying Nigeria of these benefits at this critical time.
Shocks that disengage farmers from agricultural land and production or create massive losses in farmland should be seen as major development challenges. The correlation between food insecurity and conflict hints at the terrible plight of the agricultural sector in conflict-ridden regions. Conflict has the potential to disrupt agricultural production, trade, food systems, market structures and supply chain mechanism, thereby intensifying food insecurity conditions and spurring future conflicts. Hence, global efforts to tackle food insecurity should involve better understanding of the effects of conflicts on the rural agricultural sector.
As the economic crunch bites harder, it is critical that Nigeria’s agricultural lands be relieved of the siege of insurgency and terrorism so that our teeming stranded farmers can return to cultivate the much-needed food in increased quantities to effect price reductions and affordability.
Our security forces need to deploy into the country’s besieged farmlands and put to work the much-avowed new non-kinetic strategies in their engagement with the terrorists and the local populations to free up the fields for improved cultivation and lower prices of food to the table for the relief of Nigerians in these challenging times.
