What are the major challenges for food security in Nigeria?

What are the major challenges for food security in Nigeria?

Nigeria is still characterized by high reliance on food imports. Malnutrition is widespread in the entire country and rural areas are especially vulnerable to chronic food shortages, malnutrition, unbalanced nutrition, erratic food supply, poor quality foods, high food costs, and even total lack of food.

What are the issues Africans are facing regarding food security?

These include increased malnutrition in all its forms, high unemployment especially among young people, climate change and environmental degradation, conflict and protracted crises, and the persistent gender gap.

What are the challenges to obtain food security?

Challenges to Food Security

• Climate Change: Higher temperatures and unreliable rainfall makes farming difficult.
• Lack of access to remote areas: For the tribal communities, habitation in remote difficult terrains and practice of subsistence farming has led to significant economic backwardness.

What are 4 challenges Sub Saharan Africa faces as it relates to food security?

Climate change, population growth, youth bulge, widespread unemployment, extreme poverty and hunger are some of the challenges that the continent is grappling with. People living in extreme poverty in the sub-Saharan Africa increased from 290 million in 1990 to 414 million in 2010.

What are the factors that causes food crisis in Nigeria?

In Nigeria, there is high level of food insecurity for the past four decades as a result of neglect in food production when oil has become the major export product and the because of the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies such as devaluation of naira, trade liberalization and withdrawal of government from …

Why is food security important in Nigeria?

With food security, everyone has access to the daily nutrient requirements and can therefore live a healthy and productive life. With good health comes increase in productivity which subsequently causes the growth of the economy of a nation. It also helps to alleviate poverty and create jobs for people.

What are the causes of food shortages in Africa?

Drought and other climatic extremes are major factors contributing to vulnerability to food insecurity. In the Horn of Africa there is no year or season in which the whole region receives normal rainfall and is free from climatic anomalies such as flood or drought.

How can Africa improve food security?

Encouraging local farmer cooperatives to build, own and operate community silos will also help reduce waste. It is common knowledge that between 20 to 40 percent of agriculture production in Africa is lost in transportation. Thus, storage facilities close to the farm-gate will help increase overall stocks.

Why is food security a major global challenge?

The world is facing a crisis in global food security as the global population increases and diets change with economic development. The population is increasing, meaning more mouths to feed, and it is unlikely that this will stabilise by the end of the century.

Why is food insecurity a challenge?

It places a substantial burden on our society through health care and social costs. People experiencing food insecurity often consume a nutrient-poor diet, which may contribute to the development of obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

Why is food security important in Africa?

Agriculture is central to fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving food security in the Southern African region. More than 70 percent of the rural population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, and regional economic growth has been constrained by poor performance in the agriculture sector.

What is Nigeria Food Security?

Food security has become an issue of global concern in the recent time. Nigerian food crisis is a product of colonial disorientation that has led to neglect of the peasant agriculture and food crops sub-sector as well as over reliance on cash crops production and the oil sector.

Why is food insecurity persistent in Nigeria?

Food insecurity has persisted in Nigeria and many developing countries because of inefficient policies especially with respect to agriculture, trade, economics and other adjourning sectors. If governments fail with these policies, hunger will naturally persist or even worsen.

What are the challenges of rural farming in Nigeria?

In the rural Nigeria, inadequate post-harvest technology and poor distribution of food have combined with poverty to form an almost insurmountable challenge and especially with unpredictable variations in weather conditions [9] .

How many people in Africa are undernourished?

African Food Security Briefs (AFSB) estimated that approximately one out of every three persons in the sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished [ 5] . Achieving a sustainable economic development in Nigeria and Africa at large will continue to be a mirage without well-nourished and healthy people.

How many people are affected by food insecurity in the world?

This figure represents 167 million and 216 million reduction in the last decade and since 1990 respectively [ 2] . Food security is a phenomenon which is multidimensional with economic, environmental and social aspects.