Marginalizing food security globally

When I was growing up with my siblings, we mustn’t throw away any food. Though not written, there was an order that no food must be wasted in my family. It was a taboo to throw away food in my family, and most families in Nigeria up to the late sixties. On several occasions, there was no choice as to the kind of food that we must eat. Any food prepared at home must be eaten. Today, the situation is slightly different as I have seen edible food not consumed being thrown into the waste bin by families and restaurants in both developed and developing countries.

Over the years, Nigeria’s economy has been very sensitive and vulnerable most times to unstable crude oil price in the international market. That is why the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) under the leadership of President Buhari has made agriculture an important sector in its economic diversification agenda. But analysts are asking whether Nigeria will remain largely agrarian, bearing in mind the share of agriculture in aggregate Gross Domestic Production (GDP), employment generation, and source of income for majority of the people. Will agriculture therefore be a primary driver of Nigeria’s future development and provide the needed forex, and can it ensure food security?

Food security has declined in many countries due to climate change, wars, poverty and poor infrastructure amongst others. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, food security “is a situation that exists when all people at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Food security is a component of national security. When food security is compromised because of insecurity and poverty, national security is challenged. A hungry man, they say, is an angry man. When a man is angry because of hunger, be rest assured that he’s likely to commit crime for survival. When criminality begins, farmers and their staff are likely to be kidnapped for ransom.

Although, research findings reveal that the world has the capacity to produce enough for everybody to eat, but one-third of annual food produced is wasted. The world, according to statistics, wastes about 1.3 billion tons of edible food every year. Wasted food occupies about 30 percent of agricultural land across the globe. Food loss equates to an estimated US$ 1.0 trillion globally- industrial countries lose US$ 680 billion annually, while developing nations lose US$ 310 billion per annum.

Further to monetary loss, food losses affect the environment negatively, as 8 percent of the world’s Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) are generated by food wastes. If there isn’t better food consumption, distribution and preservation, it’s predicted that GHG emissions will be about 14 percent by 2050. A world that has these negatives on food, has lost the integrity of its food security agenda. World leaders and international agencies are concerned about rising food insecurity globally.

Africa has not been self-sufficient in food production due to decline in rainfall, soil fertility, rural-urban migration, poor technology, weak industrial base, and poor infrastructure. Interestingly, some have argued strongly that the problem in Africa is not food production but poverty. No! I’ve always argued that food has been insufficient in Africa, but most times the shortfall has been imported from abroad by oil-rich nations that have huge forex. Most African economies are inert because they react sluggishly to policies, thus, supply of food doesn’t match demand by the people.

Despite food shortages in Africa, the continent is losing food daily because of poor distribution and preservation measures. Also, poor infrastructure- bad roads, epileptic electricity supply, and low refrigerated space, are responsible for food loss in Africa. The food lost in Africa currently could feed 300 million people according to the FAO, while it’s estimated that about 161 infants are chronically malnourished. The increasing number of malnourished children in Africa is very pathetic. It is due to internal conflict occasioned by poor governance.

Nigeria is not left out of the food insecurity issue as entrepreneurs in agribusiness are getting worried about the high rate of kidnapping within the country. Frequent clashes between farmers and “Fulani herdsmen” in different parts of the country are undermining farm activities. As I write, it’s reported that kidnapping threatens investment in the agricultural sector in most parts of Nigeria. Besides, there are also food losses, which is reported to be as high as 60 percent.

Attaining self-sufficiency in food through a workable agricultural program is imperative. Nigeria cannot sustain annual food import bill of about US$ 65 billion when there is scarcity of forex. In order to attain food security, the FGN must accelerate the attainment of self-sufficiency in agriculture through supply of tractors to farmers in order to enhance mechanized farming. Research and Development (R&D) in agriculture should be encouraged to have improved seedlings. Appropriate laws must be enacted to protect firms that have spent money on R&D in order to improve seedlings.

Governments-local, state, and federal, must improve the quality of roads in the country to ease transportation of farm produce from rural to urban areas. The Ministry of Agriculture must provide useful information to investors to enlighten them about distribution and preservative processes that are available. Water is increasingly becoming scarce due to changing rainfall patterns and drying rivers. Thus, increased investment in artificial dams powered by solar panels would enhance irrigation in order to make water available.

Policy makers must firm up strategies so that food produced in Nigeria, which is currently insufficient, will not be wasted. Appropriate technological and management innovations exist, and they must be adopted to convert food wastages to manure as fertilizers, and gas to generate electricity for farms. Entrepreneurs in agribusiness must begin to look at means and ways of reducing post-harvest losses through local processing.

MA Johnson