Over 4 million Nigerians will face food shortages starting this month and lasting until August, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization has declared, Njenje Media News reports.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index report, Nigeria’s food inflation stood at 22.28 percent in the month of May.
The Country Representative of FAO in Nigeria, Fred Kafeero, lamenting food insecurity in Nigeria, projected that over four million people will be in need of food assistance between June and August, 2021.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 2021 rainy season farming interventions at the Farm Centre, Maiduguri, Kafeero lamented that inaccessibility to improved seeds and fertilizers resulted in food insecurity and poverty among the populace.
He explained that supporting rainy season farming was key to the entire insurgency affected region, adding that farmers’ harvests contributed significantly to food security and income generation throughout the year.
“Access to agricultural inputs for high yields also saves lives and livelihoods of farmers.
“The latest CH analysis results projected that over four million people will be in need of food assistance between June and August, 2021,” he said.
According to him, the distribution of seeds and fertilizers has contributed to the building of people’s resilience to conflict.
Speaking further, Kafeero said that in the last 5 months, UN has so far supported 65,800 household farmers with agricultural inputs and livestock restocking for fattening, while 40,000 farmers were targeted for the distribution of inputs.
He also warned that there would be an increase of 19 percent in food requirements.
“The launch was the sixth rainy season farming intervention being conducted by FAO in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states since 2016,” he added.
