UNDP: Acute food insecurity looming in northern Nigeria 

The United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (UNDP – GEF) has warned of possible acute food insecurity in the northern part of the country.

Rhoda Dia, project manager, UNDP – GEF, in charge of the ‘Resilient Food Security’ project, said this while speaking with NAN on Wednesday.

Dia said growing levels of food insecurity in the country are due to decades of insecurity which has caused increasing poverty and economic crisis.

She mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic and series of clashes between farmers and herders as contributing factors worsening the situation.

She said women, girls, and the elderly were the most vulnerable to climate change because they have low adaptive capacity worsened by poor access to resources and exclusion from decision-making

Speaking on wastage in the agriculture sector, Dia said the global agric waste produced yearly was estimated at 1,000 million tonnes with a current waste-to-energy market of $30 billion.

She said Nigeria produces huge tonnes of waste which can be repurposed into reusable materials to reduce environmental harm, boost soil fertility and farm productivity.

“Food production requires the use of valuable resources such as land, ecosystems, water, energy among others and its wastage results in high water and carbon footprint losses,” Dia said.

“The country is also generating 4.34 million tonnes of rice straw and 0.9 million of rice husk and has an estimated 19.5 million cows which also generate waste.

“With the increasing Nigeria population, it is projected that the quantity of agricultural waste generated in the country will triple in coming decades.”

She said it is time for the northern region to tap into the potential present in converting agricultural waste to energy as well as other economically viable repurposed products.