NARC SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS AND SUBJECT EXPERTS MAKE PRESENTATIONS

NARC SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS AND SUBJECT EXPERTS MAKE PRESENTATIONS

By: Our Reporter

The Wednesday, 13 November 2024, edition of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held in the Board Room, TY Buratai Block, Abuja. The only presentation for the day was made by the Subject Experts on Southern Africa.

The only presentation for the day was made by Col OR Akerele (rtd), a subject expert on Southern Africa; he focused his presentation on how Botswana Battles for Food Security. The Voice Newspaper of Botswana, on 8 Nov 24, reported that Botswana is struggling to produce enough food to feed its people. Drought and food storage has, in the last two years, plagued countries in East Africa and most countries within the SADC, Botswana being the latest. Consequently, the government of Botswana continues to evolve new initiatives and programmes aimed at solving the food shortages.

In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Col OR Akerele (Rtd) noted that Nigeria has been dealing with food insecurity for decades, and the situation has been worsening in recent years. In the first quarter of 2024, over 100 million faced acute hunger. In January 2024, food inflation in Nigeria reached 35.41% (Aljazeera 2024). The conflict in the Northeast and Northwest regions has displaced most farmers and dwindled food productivity, thus increasing food insecurity in Nigeria. Moreover, floods and droughts have increased in frequency and severity, damaging agricultural output with a negative impact on food security. Rising poverty and unemployment have also made it harder for Nigerians to access food.

The WFP reported that 33 million Nigerians may face food insecurity by 2025. Nigeria’s dependence on imported food items has, therefore, increased over the past decade. Even though the government has set up various programmes and initiatives to boost food availability in Nigeria, monitoring efforts will, however, need to be made to ensure the objective of these efforts is achieved. Strengthening local production by cushioning the effects of climate change, environmental degradation and deforestation, improving the security of farmers on farmlands and setting up feasible initiatives to minimise poverty will also help in improving food security in Nigeria. (Banghart’s, John 2021).

He recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria should set up an inter-agency committee of agriculture and food supply chain stakeholders to monitor the implementation and progress of all its programmes and initiatives to improve food security in Nigeria and also evolve policies and initiatives to cushion the effects of climate change, deforestation, floods, drought and other natural disasters.

NARC SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS AND SUBJECT EXPERTS MAKE PRESENTATIONS