Hyacinth Alia seeks FG’s support to fight food insecurity in Benue

Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, has asked Vice President Kashim Shettima to assist the state in overcoming food insecurity. 

Alia spoke on Thursday when he met with Shettima at the presidential villa in Abuja.

The Benue governor said the vice president is keen on agriculture and needs to support the state which is the food basket of the nation to increase production.

He added that the federal government should prioritise the development of the agriculture sector to help Nigeria achieve food security.

“He (Shettima) is someone whose leaning is in agriculture as well. Remember, Benue is the food basket of the nation. So, we need everyone with the thinking and with the actions that can help us to move from grass to grace in terms of food, food security, and basic state security,” Alia said.

TheCable had reported that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said about 25.3 million people in Nigeria will experience acute hunger due to food insecurity in August this year.

“About 25.3 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity during the June to August 2023 lean season, including about 1.87 million people in CH phase 4 (emergency) and nearly 4 000 in CH phase 5 (catastrophe),” the report reads.

“This would be a significant deterioration compared to last year when 19.45 million people were estimated to be acutely food insecure.”

Following this, the United Nations(UN), in June,  donated $20 million to boost the humanitarian response to challenges of food security and nutrition in north-east Nigeria.

The climate crisis is hurting the environment and threatening food security globally. According to the UN, over 828 million people faced starvation as a result of extreme weather events in 2021 alone.