Abuja, Nigeria – Experts in the agricultural sector have raised alarm over Nigeria’s growing hunger crisis, revealing that two out of every eleven Nigerians face daily food shortages, while one in five Africans goes hungry each day.
This revelation was made by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) National Focal Person, Onijighogia Emmanuel, during a workshop for non-state actors in Abuja on the implementation of the Maputo to Kampala Declaration.
The Kampala Declaration, adopted by African Union Heads of State in January 2025, outlines a 10-year plan (2026–2035) to transform Africa’s agrifood systems by increasing agricultural productivity, ensuring food and nutrition security, and promoting sustainability across the continent.
Emmanuel called on civil society organisations, farmers, and private stakeholders to actively support the declaration’s implementation, warning that food insecurity could worsen as Africa’s population nears 2.5 billion by 2050, with Nigeria projected to reach 450 million.
“About six in ten Nigerian households cannot afford nutritious meals,” Emmanuel stated, adding that 58 per cent of Africans are food insecure, with over 924 million people unable to afford a healthy diet.
He also disclosed that over 130,000 Africans, including 50,000 Nigerians, fall ill each year due to unsafe food, resulting in lost productivity and economic strain on families.
Emmanuel lamented that Nigeria has yet to meet its commitment under the Maputo and Kampala declarations, which require governments to allocate 10 per cent of their annual budgets to agriculture to achieve a 6 per cent GDP growth rate. The country currently spends only about 3 per cent.
He, however, commended the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security for setting up a technical committee to develop a 10-year national plan aligned with CAADP objectives and for forming an Agricultural Central Working Group comprising 86 representatives from government, private sector, and farmer organisations.
“We need to encourage women and young people to participate in agriculture,” Emmanuel urged.
Speaking at the event, Azubike Nwokoye, ActionAid Nigeria’s Food Systems Specialist, stressed the need for accountability in implementing the Kampala Declaration. He called on stakeholders to improve research, policy advocacy, and budget tracking to ensure agricultural funds are effectively utilised.
Nwokoye highlighted key focus areas such as access to credit, inclusion of women and youth, extension services, post-harvest loss reduction, and modern farming technologies. He also noted that ActionAid has mobilised over two million smallholder women farmers into cooperatives—the largest of its kind in Africa—and continues to engage young farmers in policy dialogues.
The Coordinator of the Small-Scale Women Farmers’ Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON), Oyediji Grace Bukola, reaffirmed her group’s commitment to advocate for the full implementation of the declaration.
She appealed to the government to increase agricultural investment, particularly by meeting the 10 per cent budgetary allocation and improving credit access for smallholder farmers.
“Farmers don’t want to go on strike, because if we do, nobody will have food on their table,” she warned. “We want to ensure every Nigerian household has access to food.”
Nigeria’s deepening hunger crisis comes amid rising poverty levels. Reports indicate that over 75 per cent of rural Nigerians and 40 per cent of urban residents live in poverty. Since Nigeria overtook India as the world’s poverty capital in 2018, the situation has worsened, with 133 million Nigerians now living in multidimensional poverty, lacking access to food, healthcare, education, and clean water.
Experts say the situation deteriorated further following the removal of fuel subsidies and naira floatation in 2024, policies that, while fiscally driven, were implemented without adequate social safety nets — worsening hardship for millions of citizens.
As Nigeria continues to grapple with inflation, food scarcity, and poverty, experts warn that without urgent intervention, the nation could once again become the global epicentre of poverty and hunger.
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