March 13, (THEWILL) – The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says about 14.4 million Nigerians are facing food crisis.
According to FAO, the figure consists of 385,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), in 21 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
Food Security Analyst, FAO, Jasper Mwesigwa, disclosed this in Abuja at the presentation of the Cadre Harmonisé report for Nigeria.
FAO added that no fewer than 19.4 million Nigerians may face acute food and nutrition insecurity between June and August this year.
He listed the states as: Yobe, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kano, Bauchi, Enugu, Niger and Kebbi.
Others include Zamfara, Jigawa, Gombe, Benue, Abia, Cross River, Edo, Lagos, Plateau and Taraba states.
He assured that, “the results of Cadre Harmonisé analysis provide reliable early warning information to decision makers, to inform emergency preparedness response for medium and long term policy and programming.”
The Cadre Harmonisé (CH), is the current framework for consensual analysis of acute food and nutrition insecurity situations in ECOWAS and Sahelian Regional.
According to the report, key and limiting factors that impact food and nutrition are insecurity, particularly in the northeast, inflation rate as evident in soaring commodity prices, loss of employment and reduction in household income.
The Permanent Secretary, Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ernest Umakhihe, noted that the March 2022 CH analysis result was timely as it came at a time of economic hardship.
Represented by Director, Project Coordinating Unit, Ubadoma Ularamu, he decried the security challenges in the country that had continued to threaten food and nutrition security.
Umakhihe noted that the challenges had led to disruptions in food production and distribution systems, resulting in poor consumption patterns among several households.
He assured that the government was committed to upholding the outcome and recommendations arising from the analysis.
“This is with a view to enhancing the food and nutrition security situation in the concerned states, through objective intervention programmes. I call on all participants to contribute positively and objectively to the issues emanating from the results, to enhance its quality and acceptability by the wide spectrum of stakeholders”, said Umakhihe.
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