{"id":3920,"date":"2019-11-25T12:58:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T11:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2019-11-25T13:27:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T12:27:59","slug":"is-nigeria-producing-enough-food-to-satisfy-her-citizenry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/is-nigeria-producing-enough-food-to-satisfy-her-citizenry\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Nigeria Producing Enough Food to Satisfy Her Citizenry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Full Text: <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On October 14, the Minister for Agriculture, Sabo Nanono addressed journalists in an event celebrating the international World Food Day. But, it was a particular comment<\/a> from the minister that made headlines<\/a>! He said that there is no hunger <\/a>in the country but inconveniences<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we are producing enough food to feed ourselves and I think there is no hunger but if you say inconveniences I would agree. There is no hunger in the country and when people talk about hunger, I just laugh because they do not know hunger.<\/em>
Food in Nigeria is fairly cheap compared to other countries. In Kano, for instance, you can eat N30 worth of food and be satisfied. So, we should be thankful that we can feed ourselves and we have relatively cheap food in this country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>Alhaji Sabo Nanono- Minister of Agriculture<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Red flags <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We acknowledge the fact that this claim alludes to a simple true or false verdict; but, these matters are a tad more complex. What do we mean? Saying \u201cthere is no hunger in the country\u201d is not a quantifiable statement. This is because no metric was used. An authority cannot simply make such statements (opinion or fact) with zero evidence. Conversely, one cannot say there is hunger based on common rhetoric. Hence, we look at the facts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Hunger?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you talk about hunger on a national scale, there are few succinct details to note- other than just an achy belly. The Food and Agriculture Organisation<\/a>, explains it as relating to food security and food insecurity. Food security is essentially having the economic and financial means to satisfy ones dietary requirements per time; the opposite applies to food insecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you measure hunger nationally, or globally?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Early on, we established that the Minister did not reference any evidence in making his assertion. This brings us to the question of how you measure global hunger\u2026 There are a few initiatives available; one of which is the Global Hunger Index<\/a> (GHI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GHI is a tool used to measure, track and raise awareness and understanding about hunger across global, regional and national levels. Recently, it ranked Nigeria – 93 out of 117 – with a score of 27.9; meaning the country is in serious hunger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, the Global Food Security (GFS)<\/a> Index prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Nigeria 96 in the world with an overall score of 38.0. It also ranked Nigeria – 14 – in sub-Saharan Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Global Food Security Index uses the following parameters of assessment:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
  1. Physical availability of food<\/li>
  2. Economic and physical access to food i.e. affordability<\/li>
  3. Food utilization or quality and control i.e. nutritional value<\/li>
  4. The stability of all the three other factors over time.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The GFS index scored Nigeria\u2019s Food availability<\/strong>, Affordability<\/strong> and Quality <\/strong>and Control<\/strong> – 44.4, 26.5 and 49.4 respectively. When you compare this below-average rating against the Minister\u2019s bold statement that Nigeria is producing enough food, it does not add up. Or even the fact that he said \u201cfood is fairly cheap\u201d- the affordability<\/span> score begs to differ! This essentially shows that the country is not food secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    The Country\u2019s performance over a seven-year trend from 2012- 2018 tells a shaky story. From 2012-2013, it was on a decline. 2014-2016 were good times- as the index celebrated some increment. However, this came to a halt the following years- 2017 and 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Researchers- Saheed Matemilola and Isa Elegbede- from the Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany outlined<\/a> some of the challenges of food security in Nigeria. The publication took cognizance of the following factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n