Report: 33.1m Nigerians to face food crisis in 2025

The Cadre Harmonisé (CH) report for October predicted that at least 33.1 million people in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, would face food and nutrition crisis between June and August 2025.

The prediction was made in the CH Analysis Report released on Friday, November 1, 2024.

The analysis was conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and other partners.

The affected states are Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Taraba, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Plateau, Kaduna, Kebbi, Niger, and Benue.

Others include Abuja, Cross River, Enugu, Edo, Abia, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kwara, Ogun, Lagos, and Rivers States.

The report stated that this figure includes 514,474 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno, Sokoto, and Zamfara States.

It revealed that approximately 25 million people across the 26 states and Abuja are currently experiencing food crises.

The FAO Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Kouacou Koffy, called for urgent attention and a unified approach to address food and nutrition security in Nigeria.

Koffy said: “With the concerted efforts of the government, CH stakeholders, and the international community, we can move closer to alleviating hunger and reducing suffering for Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations.

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“We are facing unprecedented challenges affecting livelihoods and food and nutrition security globally, regionally, and nationally.”

Koffy said Nigeria is experiencing a combination of shocks, including economic factors affecting the prices of staple crops and agricultural commodities, climate-related events such as floods and droughts, and insecurity.

He noted that the goal of CH workshops is to analyse available food security data and contributing factors to identify populations and areas at risk of food and nutrition insecurity in the country.

According to him, these workshops also aim to propose appropriate measures to prevent or mitigate ongoing food crises.

“CH analysis is the most reliable and widely accepted early warning tool for humanitarian programming, food security, and livelihood response targeting, as well as for prioritising development programmes,” he added.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fashedemi, pledged the government’s commitment to applying the findings of the report to guide food and nutrition security programmes across states.

The CH Focal Person for the National Programme on Food Security, Balama Dauda, identified key drivers of the food crisis as high prices of foodstuffs and non-food items, flooding, and insecurity.

The Star