Nigeria’s rising food crisis may not find solution soon, as newly released data from the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), says increasing flood levels have affected up to 115, 265 hectares of farmlands in the country.
Data on the affected states shows that Bauchi State recorded the greatest volume of affected farmlands with 50,343 hectares, followed by Taraba State with 22,182 hectares, while Jigawa has 9, 919 hectares, Niger 9, 488 hectares, and Sokoto, 8, 676 hectares, Channels reports.
Also affected by the flooding are Adamawa State with 3, 392 hectares, Bayelsa State with 170 hectares, Borno 313 hectares, Ebonyi 100 hectares, Enugu 953 hectares, Gombe 1, 311 hectares, Kaduna 120 hectares, Kano 3, 072 hectares, Katsina 37 hectares, Kebbi 3, 382 hectares, Yobe with 223 hectares, and Zamfara with 1, 584 hectares.
The 2024 flood report also said 29 states of the federation, 154 local government areas and 611, 201 persons have been affected with 225, 169 persons displaced, 83, 457 households affected, 201 lives lost, and 2,119 injuries recorded so far during this year’s flooding.
The new flood data comes on the heels of recent food shortages in the country, and food inflation put at over 40 per cent by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
On Monday, a Central Bank of Nigeria’s survey said rising inflation rate will force Nigerian households to spend the largest amounts of their earnings on food in the next six months.
According to the CBN report, the poll was conducted from July 22 to 26, 2024, with a response rate of 99.7 per cent with its sample size drawn from the NBS master sample list of 1,665 households in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
The report, Household Expectation Survey published on its website, CBN said many Nigerians intend to cut down on items that are not essential now, in the next three and six months.
They, however, plan to spend 54.9 per cent of their income on food items in the next six months.
“Spending outlook for the next six months showed that consumers plan to spend a substantial amount of their income on the following items: food and other household Items (54.9 points), education (35.4 points), transportation (30.2 points), electricity (20.0 points) and medical expenses (12.2 points),” the poll shows.
Conversely, the respondents do not plan to spend a substantial amount of income on big-ticket items such as the purchase of a house, car and household appliances.
Nigerians do not intend to spend on investment, such as acquiring landed properties or other forms of investments. They equally do not plan on saving their incomes.
“This reflects their family financial situation in the current month and reaffirms their stance that they will be drawing down on their savings or getting into debt,” the apex bank survey shows.
Food crisis in the country had pushed residents in the north to engage in looting of warehouses and food trucks, a move which had caused concern in the country.
Babagana Bulama, Chairman of the North-East forum of the DSS, speaking at the 15th conference of the North-East directors of the state services at Damaturu, Yobe State recently, said the rising prices of goods has motivated hoodlums to take advantage of the crisis to attack warehouses, and vehicles with goods, particularly foodstuff being transported from one state to the other.
Bulama said; “This edition is taking place at a time when the insecurity of the nation borders on criminality, especially the trace of Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and kidnapping which have been in the forefront, now overtaken by social security issues comprising of food crisis, to hoarding of foodstuff, hunger in the land, starvation and renewed threats of protests by organised labour groups such as the Nigerian Labour Congress, and others.
“Similarly, the rising prices of goods have motivated hoodlums to take advantage of the challenges to attack warehouses, and vehicles with goods, particularly food stuff being transported from one state to the other. The situation is also being exploited by economic saboteurs who are bent on destroying the economy. It is pertinent to mention that all this is happening barely a year after the 2023 general election.”
The Nigerian Army said it has deployed troops in several northern states, to protect farmers.
A recent statement by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba said the deployment was made particularly in the North West and the North Central states.
The Federal Government in the wake of the galloping prices of essential commodities reeled out a raft of measures to address the challenge.
It recently suspended duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas through the country’s land and sea borders, for 150 days.
It also approved the procurement of 2,000 tractors, and 1,200 trailers and set up a committee to help proffering solutions to the food crisis rocking the nation.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Abubakar Kyari says the country is expecting a bumper harvest before year-end.
Speaking last month, Kyari said the Federal Government had measures in place to address the situation including ramping up farming which would increase food production.
“It [bumper harvest] is about October-November this year. That’s when we are going to have the harvest. We are expecting a bumper harvest baring any natural issues,” Kyari said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
