Food insecurity in Nigeria could get significantly worse as criminal elements now engage in large-scale theft of farm produce just days, and sometimes hours, before farm owners come to harvest their crops.
The scale of theft is different across states of the country. While farmers in southern states have to deal with petty thieves, the desperation, hunger and insecurity in the north create the atmosphere for large-scale criminality.
LEADERSHIP Weekend was able to gather reports of theft and criminal activities on privately owned farms from at least 15 states across the regions of the country, some of which appear in this report.
This is just as the World Bank has warned of increased food insecurity in seven states in the Northwest and Northeast regions of the country, blaming insecurity, armed conflicts and the reduced standards of living.
The states that the World Bank named as being under threat of severe food crisis include Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara.
Findings by LEADERSHIP Weekend, however, suggest that the food crisis is being worsened by the ECOWAS sanctions on Niger Republic, which can no longer import food from ports in West Africa, and the falling value of the Naira against CFA Franc, which is the currency used by most of Nigeria’s neighbours.
The underlining circumstances are making the diversion of foodstuff from many of the states in the Northwest and Northeast to neighbouring countries more profitable.
Nigerian governors had recently stated that food in country is cheaper in Nigeria than in most West African states. However, they did not acknowledge the impact the value of the Naira on all this.
According to Prof. Hassan Ishaq Ibrahim, agricultural economist at Federal University, Dutsin-ma, Katsina State, there could be a threat of famine in areas that have suffered prolonged conflict or unabated insecurity which prevent farmers’ access to their farms.
“In such areas, unless there are deliberate measures put in place by government at all levels, famine in such places may be inevitable.
“Whether or not there are early warning signs indicating food shortages, there is no doubting the fact that in such areas that suffer persistent insecurity and unwarranted attacks which prevent farmer access to their farms, there will be certainly be a decrease in food production in such areas,” he said.
On the insinuation that farmers now prefer to sell their produce to neighbouring countries because of the Naira losing value, coupled with the fact that Niger Republic can no longer import food through seaports in the ECOWAS region, Prof. Ibrahim said he could not authenticate that, but stressed, however, that every farmer had the right to sell their farm produce wherever brings them maximum profit.
Farmers who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend would only admit to having challenges over insecurity and the large-scale theft of their harvest, but were less open about suggestions that their crops and foodstuff are ending up in neighbouring countries.
LEADERSHIP Weekend also discovered that most of the thefts go unreported and as such no official investigation has been conducted by either the federal government or state governments to assess the impact of the theft and put numbers to how much it costing the economy.
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Theft Of Farm Produce Spreads Across Nigeria – Agriculture – Nigeria (nairaland.com)