global food crisis with emphasis on nigeria

March 2015. Vol 1, No 1: NIGERIA SOCIETY OF GEOGRAPHERS ONLINE In Collaboration with Broad Mind Initiative (BMI) http//:www.facebook/nigeriasocietyofgeographers.com

GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS WITH EMPHASIS ON NIGERIAObonyilo Paul Aaron, (B.Sc. Geography).

Corporate Inventory Team, Dpt. of Contracting and Procurement, Shell Petroleum Development. Company, Eastern

Division Port Harcourt, Nigeria.E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

AbstractFood crisis and food scarcity is a global phenomenon which affects almost every nook and cranny of human world of today. The resultant by-product of food crisis is hunger and starvation which in turn has claimed thousands of lives in recent times. This paper is prepared to look into the basic food requirement needed by humans to sustain life, the distribution and availability of these food substances to the teeming world population, the factors responsible for food shortage and possible recommendations to curtail the menace. The paper also looks at Africa and Nigeria specifically as a nation suffering from the effects of the food crisis and possible recommendations to remedy the situation. The work is divided into five sections; the first section is the introduction which elaborates the concept of food itself, the second section looks at the pattern of food crisis in the world, its causes and effects on the population, the third section is based on food crisis in Nigeria, the fourth section presents the possible recommendations with which we can alleviate the effects and the final section is the bibliography. This work identifies the plight of Africans and how our right to standard balance diet of three square meals on daily basis can be attended to. All references are duly acknowledged.

Introduction

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Food is anything we eat to nourish our body and to sustain our life, they

consist of those plant and animal nutrient supplement and complement which

constitute a basic daily requirement for the continuous sustenance of life. Food

exists in different kinds and forms and is obtained from diverse resources

mostly from plant and animal species; different delicacies can be prepared

from the same type of food substance e.g. yam can be prepared as yam

porridge or as pounded yam or as yam flour meal, cassava can be prepared as

garri, cassava flour meal, wet starch meal, cassava bread, beans can be

prepared as portage beans, beans cake, moimoi, beans soup, baked beans etc.

A particular delicacy of food depends on the culture of the people preparing

the food. Food could either be in liquid form like beverages and food drinks or

in semi solid and solid forms, food could also be eaten raw like fruits and

vegetables or cooked before eaten. Food substances have also being

converted into drugs and medicines which are consumed as food supplements.

Different kinds of food are being prepared and packaged in one country or

region and exported to an entirely different location which also serves as a

source of foreign income to the exporting country or region.

The importance of food in the development and sustenance of man cannot be

over emphasised for it has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt that man

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cannot survive a long period of time without food. The Food and Agricultural

Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that food is the basic

prerequisite for the absolute sustenance of life. Any good food that is meant

for consumption by humans must be a balance diet and must be prepared

under a hygienic condition or else it cannot be classified as sustainable. A

balance diet is a food that contains all the basic essential mineral nutrients

such as vitamins, calcium, carbohydrates, proteins phosphorus, water, fats and

acids etc. A balance diet enhances good health of mind and body of an

individual, thus promoting long life and sustainable development. A natural

man can barely survive seven days without food because food is the substance

from which we derive strength, energy and nourishment to keep up with our

daily life activities, thus the sole importance placed on food security by the

world governments. In the ancient times, people were left with little choices as

to what kind of food to eat due to the dominance and domestication of very

few varieties of food substances but in contemporary times, the range of food

substances have widely increase as a result of technological advancement and

improvement in the study of genetics which has brought about the knowledge

of cross breeding and seedling improvement and also the invention of

fertilizers has greatly improve the producing capacity of the soils.

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WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION:

Many countries of the world are self sustained in terms of food production, yet

there are others that cannot produce their own food therefore they solely

depends on the self sustained countries for food supply. Countries which are

situated around the arid regions where there is usually low amount of per annum

rain fall usually have low food production but some like Egypt and Morocco in

the Saharan axis have greatly utilized the wide potentials of the great Nile River

to obtain a remarkable food production level through irrigation agriculture right

from ancient days. Countries like England, Scotland Thailand and America have

employed the advent of technological invention and advancement to produce

machineries and equipments which have greatly boost agricultural productivity

and large scale food production and the scientific invention of insecticides,

pesticides and herbicides have also helped in preserving the food stuffs in the

field and in the stores. Statistics has shown the trend in world food production

and distribution, agricultural practices in different areas of the world has enable

the production of food while industrial practices has enable the processing,

preservation and packaging of food for future purposes. Despite the exceeding

improvement in agricultural productivity, the shortage of food the world over

still persists. Several nations of the world are still lingering in abject food

shortage to the tune of several people dying of hunger and starvation.

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Global food crisis:

Within the years 2007–2008 food prices raised dramatically worldwide, creating

a global food crisis and causing political and economic instability and social

unrest in both developing and developed

nations.

Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in

food prices continue to be the subject of

discussions. Initial causes of the late 2006 price

rises included unseasonable droughts in grain producing nations and rising oil

prices. Oil prices further heightened the costs of fertilizers, food transport, and

industrial agriculture. Other causes of the food crisis may be the increasing use

of biofuels in developed countries, and an increasing demand for a more varied

diet, meat in particular, across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia.

These factors, coupled with falling world food stockpiles have all contributed to

the dramatic worldwide rise in food prices. Long-term causes of the food crisis

remain a topic of debate. These may include structural changes in trade and

agricultural production, agricultural price supports and subsidies in developed

nations, diversions of food commodities to high input foods and fuel,

commodity market speculation, and climate change.

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Between early 2006 and 2008, the average world price for rice rose by 217%,

wheat by 136%, maize by 125% and soybeans by 107%. In late April 2008, rice

prices hit 24 cents a pound, twice the price that it was seven months earlier.

Various factors contributed to the rising food prices. Analysts

attributed the food price rises to a perfect storm of poor

harvests in various parts of the world, increasing biofuel usage,

lower food reserves, the US Federal Reserve decreasing

interest rates so that money is no longer a means to preserve

wealth over the long term, as a result people invest in food

commodities which causes an increase in demand and

therefore price, growing consumer demand in Asia, oil price

rises, and changes in the world economy. Agricultural subsidies

in developed nations are another long-term factor contributing

to high global food prices.

When the global financial and economic crisis hit, a large number of

developing countries were still reeling from the economic and social impacts of

the earlier global food crisis. In 2008, the cereal price index reached a peak 2.8

times higher than in 2000; as of July 2010, it remained 1.9 times higher than in

2000, (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2010a; 2010b).

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Prior to the global financial crisis, concerns about the spikes in food and energy

prices were at the centre of public and media attention. Global leaders and

policy makers were concerned about the potential welfare impacts of the sharp

increases in the prices of food commodities, such as rice, corn (maize), wheat

and soybeans, as well as global food security. There was concern about how

higher food prices were adversely affecting low-income consumers and efforts

to reduce poverty, as well as the political and social stability of poor countries

and food-importing countries. These concerns have subsequently heightened

with the social tensions, unrest and food riots that have broken out in several

countries.

However, attention to the fragile and unsustainable global food security

situation was pushed off the centre stage of international concerns and replaced

by the global financial and economic crisis and the later push towards budget

cuts and fiscal austerity in most major industrialized countries. Unfortunately,

the food crisis is still far from over as prices have been rising once again since

2009 (Johnston and Bargawi, 2010). The poor remain especially vulnerable, as the

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned repeatedly. The FAO’s

world food-price index had risen to a record high at the time of writing in early

2014, topping the previous all-time high set in June 2008. As a result, rising

food prices have driven an estimated 44 million people into poverty (World Bank,

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2014). Furthermore, the food riots in Mozambique in September 2010 and recent

protests in several North African countries seem to reflect the continued impacts

of high food prices on the poor and other vulnerable groups.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO), food security is achieved when ‘‘all people at all times, have physical,

social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets

their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Such

conditions are not available for 1/6 of the world’s population the great majority

of who live in dry land regions. This situation is due to internal factors that

characterize these areas, as well as worsening factors at various levels.

According to data currently available, in 2007 countries included in the

UNCCD regional implementation annexes accounted for more than 93 per cent

of the world’s undernourished people. Africa presented the highest prevalence

rate, with almost 23 per cent of the population of that continent considered to be

undernourished. Asia had 2/3 of the overall undernourished population with 577

million undernourished people. The 2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security

and Climate Change - "Hunger for Action" - held in Ha Noï, Viet Nam, from 3 to 7 September 2012.

Beginning in 2006, international prices for basic agricultural commodities rose

to levels not experienced in nearly three decades (see figure 1). Corn prices

began rising in the third quarter of 2006 and soared by some 70 per cent within

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months. Wheat and soybean prices also rose to record levels during this time.

Cooking oil—an essential foodstuff in many poor countries—is mainly

produced from soybeans and other plant sources; as a result the price of this

item shot upward as well. Rice prices had also more than doubled in the year

ending in the first quarter of 2008 (Bradsher, 2008). In many countries, the prices

of most food staples remain volatile and are still at least 50 per cent above the

average for the period 2000-2004. For example, in Lahore, Pakistan, wheat

prices rose by 24 per cent in the year prior to February 2010 while the maize

price in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, went up by 36 per cent between October

2009 and February 2010. The spike was even worse in Burundi; in Bujumbura,

the price of beans went up by 58 per cent during the same period (see table 1).

The food crisis has not abated as most food prices are rising again and have

exceeded the peaks recorded in 2008. The Food and Agriculture Organization

food-price index rose to a record high in February 2011, topping the previous

all-time high set in June 2008, following unexpected shortfalls in major cereals

owing to bad weather in 2010.

Fig. 1: Graph of food price rises from 1999 – 2007. Source: FAO

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Table 1: Countries experiencing largest increases in the prices of the main food staples: Source:

World Bank (2011).

Price increase, annual average up to year ending February 2010

Price increase, June 2010– December 2010

Location

Commodity

Percentageincrease

Location

Commodity

Percentage increase

Sudan (Khartoum)

Sorghum

39.8

Brazil (SãoPaulo)

Maize

56.0

Pakistan (Lahore)

Wheat

23.9

Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)

Wheat

54.0

Tanzania(Dar es Salaam)

Maize

21.2

Burundi(Bujumbura)

Beans

48.0

Chad (Abeche)

Sorghum

20.8

Viet Nam (Dong Thap)

Rice

46.0

Mali (Bamako)

Millet

17.0

Bangladesh

Wheat

45.0

Kenya (Nairobi)

Maize

16.3

Cameroon (Yaoundé)

Beans

43.0

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India (Mumbai)

India (Mumbai)

13.6

Burundi (Bujumbura)

Rice

41.0

CAUSES AND IMPACT OF GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

Causes of Food Crisis

At the beginning of 2007 and early 2008, the prices of some of the most basic

international food commodities increased dramatically on international markets.

The international market price of wheat doubled from February 2007 to

February 2008 hitting a record high of over US$10 a bushel. Rice prices also

reached ten year high. In some nations, milk and meat prices more than

doubled, while soy (which hit a 34 year high price in December 2007) and

maize prices have increased dramatically. The food crisis is as a result of a

complex interplay of several factors. Some of these factors have recently

emerged, such as excessive speculation in agricultural commodity futures

markets, drought-induced crop failures in major grain- and cereal-producing

regions and the surge in biofuel production in Europe and the United States.

Other causes are longer-term; including reduced national and international

investments in developing-countries agriculture, distortions in the international

trading system and changing consumption patterns, conflict and mass migration.

All these factors have adversely affected agricultural production. However,

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some factors played much larger roles than others in the 2007-2008 global food

price crisis as well as the more recent one.

Speculation in commodity futures

One key factor that distinguishes the spikes in food prices during the period

2007- 2008 from that of previous price increases is the role played by large

banks, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds in commodity futures markets

(Domanski and Heath, 2007; Ghosh, 2010; Mittal, 2009). Investors have moved

into futures markets following the deregulation of the United States

commodities futures markets in the 1990s (Chilton, 2008; Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development, 2008). The UN Special Reporter on

Food, Olivier De Schutter, has linked the increases in price and the volatility of

food commodity prices to the emergence of a “speculative bubble” in the early

years of the twenty-first century. He notes: “Beginning in 2001, food

commodities derivatives markets and commodities indexes began to see an

influx of non-traditional investors, such as pension funds, hedge funds,

sovereign wealth funds, and large banks. This was simply because other

markets dried up one by one. The dotcoms vanished at the end of 2001, the

stock market soon after and the US housing market in August 2007. As each

bubble burst, these large institutional investors moved into other markets, each

traditionally considered more stable than the last. Strong similarities can be seen

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between the price behaviour of food commodities and other refuge values, such

as gold” (De Schutter, 2010). As the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States

deepened and spread to international finance from mid-2007, investors moved

from uncertain financial markets to mineral and food markets, seeking security

in real assets, while contributing to and taking advantage of the “commodities

super cycle”. Such new investors purchased large or many futures and options

contracts, transforming the role of commodity futures markets. By July 2008,

$317 billion was invested in commodities index funds, led by Goldman Sachs

and American Insurance Group (AIG). These actions pushed up agricultural and

mineral (including energy) commodities. Drawing on Lehman Brothers

research, US Congressman Bart Stupak testified to the House Agriculture

Committee that “since 2003, commodity index speculation has increased 1,900

per cent from an estimated $13 billion to $260 billion” in March 2008. Many

higher futures prices for major crops, such as wheat, rice, corn and soybeans, in

turn, raised current food prices, which in turn raised futures and options prices,

thus contributing to a food price bubble (Stupak, 2008). Commodity Futures

Trading Commission Chairman, Gary Gensler, told the US Senate in 2009, “I

believe that increased speculation in energy and agricultural products has hurt

farmers and consumers”. (Food and Water Watch (2009). See also, Baffes and Haniotis,

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2010; Robles, Torero and Braun, 2009; United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development, 2009).

Higher energy prices and demand for biofuels:

The availability of cheap oil has been a major factor in the rise of agricultural

productivity in the last several decades. However, the era of cheap oil came to

an abrupt end in the recent past as oil prices trebled between January 2007 and

July 2008, exceeding $147 a barrel. Consequently, the increase in oil prices also

affected the production, processing and distribution of agricultural commodities,

and hence food prices. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018 report

warned that episodes of price increases and extreme price volatility, similar to

2008, cannot be ruled out in the coming years and the prices of some

commodities as well as biofuels have become increasingly linked to oil and

energy costs (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009). As the search for cheaper

energy sources continues, the demand for biofuels has increased. A major

source of the growth in demand for food crops is for the production of

bioethanol and biodiesel. Developed countries annually provide $13 billion in

subsidies and protection to encourage biofuels production, which have diverted

120 million tons of cereals away from human consumption for conversion to

fuel. In the United States alone, 119 million out of 416 million tons of grain

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produced in 2009 went to ethanol distilleries. The grain would have been

enough to feed 350 million people for a year! An unpublished World Bank

report found that biofuels forced global food prices up by 75 per cent—

far more than previously estimated (Chakrabo,2010).

Fig 2: Ethanol Production in the USA from 1995 – 2007. Source FAO.

Uncontrolled world population growth:

Growth in food production has been greater than population growth and food

per person increased during the 1961-2005 period. Although some

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commentators have argued that this food crisis stems from unprecedented global

population growth, others point out that world population growth rates have

dropped dramatically since the 1980s, and grain availability has continued to

outpace population. However, if the trend continues, the world population will

have increased four times in one hundred years between 1950 and 2050.

Aggregate food production per capita has risen from the 1960s to the 1980s but

slightly declined since, at least for cereals. World population has grown from

1.6 billion in 1900 to an estimated 6.6 billion today. In Mexico, for example,

population has grown from 13.6 million in 1900 to 107 million in 2007. Bureau

figures show that the U.S. population grew by 2.8 million between July 1, 2004,

and July 1, 2005.

The actual annual growth in the number of humans fell from its peak of 87

million per annum in the late 1980s, to a low 75 million per annum in 2002, at

which it stabilized and has started to slowly rise again to 77 million per annum

in 2007. The world's population, on its current growth trajectory, is expected to

reach nearly 9 billion by the year 2042. April

2008 analyses from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization

maintained that while food consumption of grains has gone up one percent since

2006, most of this increase has gone to developed countries.

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Fig. 3: World population projection for 1950 - 2050.

Increased demand for resource intensive food

The head of the International Food Policy Research Institute stated in 2008 that

the gradual change in diet among newly prosperous populations is the most

important factor underpinning the rise in global food prices. Where food

utilization has increased, it has largely been in processed so called "value

added" foods, sold in developing and developed nations. Total grain utilization

growth since 2006 (up three percent, over the 2000-2006 per annum average of

two percent) has been greatest in non-food usage, especially in feed and

biofuels. One kilogram of beef requires seven kilograms of feed grain. These

reports, therefore, conclude that usage in industrial, feed, and input intensive

foods, has contributed to the price increases.

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Although the vast majority of the population in Asia remains rural and poor, the

growth of the middle class in the region has been dramatic, and is projected to

continue to be so. For comparison, in 1990, the middle class grew by 9.7

percent in India and 8.6 percent in China, but by 2007 the growth rate was

nearly 30 percent and 70 percent, respectively. The corresponding increase in

affluence has also brought with it a change in lifestyle and eating habits,

particularly a demand for greater variety and more meat in the diet, leading to

greater demand for agricultural resources. This demand exacerbates dramatic

increases in commodity prices, such as oil.

Another issue is that rising affluence in India and China is reducing the `shock

absorber' of poor people who are forced to reduce their resource consumption

when food prices rise (e.g. by switching back from meat to vegetarian diet).

This has reduced price elasticity and caused a sharp rise in food prices during

times of food shortages. In the media, China is often mentioned as one of the

reasons for the increase in world food prices, but China has to a large extent

been able to meet its own demand for food. It is, however, uncertain whether

this will continue to be the case in the future.

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Decreased crops from natural disasters:

Several distinct weather- and climate-related incidents have caused disruptions

in food crop production. Perhaps the most influential is the extended drought in

Australia, in particular the fertile Murray-Darling Basin, which produces large

amounts of wheat and rice. The drought has caused the annual rice harvest to

fall by as much as 98% from pre-drought levels. Australia is historically the

second-largest exporter of wheat after the United States, producing up to 25

million tons in a good year, the vast majority for export. However, the 2006

harvest was 9.8 million. Other events that have negatively affected food prices

include the 2006 heat wave in California's San Joaquin Valley, which killed

large numbers of farm animals, and unseasonable 2008 rains in Kerala, India,

which destroyed swathes of grain. Scientists have stated that several of these

incidents are consistent with the predicted effects of climate change.

The impact of Cyclone Nargis on Burma in May 2008 caused a spike in the

price of rice. Burma has historically been a rice exporter, though yields have

fallen as government price controls have reduced incentives for farmers. The

storm surge inundated rice paddies up to 30 miles (48 km) inland in the

Irrawaddy Delta, raising concern that the salt could make the fields infertile.

The FAO had previously estimated that Burma would export up to 600,000 tons

of rice in 2008, but concerns were raised in the cyclone's aftermath that Burma

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may be forced to import rice for the first time, putting further upward pressure

on global rice prices.

Stem rust reappeared in 1998 in Uganda and possibly earlier in Kenya with the

particularly virulent UG99 fungus. Unlike other rusts, which only partially

affect crop yields, UG99 can bring 100% crop loss. Up to 80% yield losses were

recently recorded in Kenya. As of 2005 stem rust was still believed to be

"largely under control worldwide except in Eastern Africa". But by January

2007 an even more virulent strain had gone across the Red Sea into Yemen.

FAO first reported on 5 March 2008 that UG99 had now spread to major wheat-

growing areas in Iran. These countries in North Africa and Middle East

consume over 150% of their own wheat production; the failure of this staple

crop thus adds a major burden on them. The disease is now expected to spread

over China and the Far-East. The strong international collaboration network of

research and development that spread disease-resistant strains some 40 years

ago and started the Green Revolution, was since slowly starved of research

funds because of its own success and is now too atrophied to swiftly react to the

new threat.

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Soil and productivity losses:

Large areas of croplands are lost year after year, due mainly to soil erosion,

water depletion, deforestation, desertification, flood and urbanization. 60,000 sq

km/year of land becomes so severely degraded that it loses its productive

capacity and becomes wasteland, and even more are affected to a lesser extent,

adding to the crop supply problem. Additionally, agricultural production is also

lost due to water depletion. Northern China in particular has depleted much of

its non-renewable aquifers, which now has negative impact on its crop

production. Urbanization is another, smaller, difficult to estimate cause of

annual cropland reduction.

Rising levels of ozone:

Another possible environmental factor in the food price crisis is ever increasing

background levels of ozone in the atmosphere. Plants have been shown to have

a high sensitivity to ozone levels, and lower yields of important food crops,

such as wheat and soybeans, may have been a result of ozone levels. Ozone

levels in the Yangtze Delta were studied for their effect on oilseed grape, a

member of the cabbage family that produces one-third of the vegetable oil used

in China. Plants grown in chambers that controlled ozone levels exhibited a 10-

20 percent reduction in size and weight when exposed to elevated ozone.

Production of seeds and oil was also reduced.

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Distorted global rice market:

Japan is forced to import more than 767,000 tons of rice annually from the

United States, Thailand, and other countries due to WTO rules. This is despite

the fact that Japan produces over 100% of domestic rice consumption needs

with 11 million tonnes produced in 2005 while 8.7 million tonnes were

consumed in 2003-2004 period. Japan is not allowed to re-export this rice to

other countries without approval. This rice is generally left to rot and then used

for animal feed. Under pressure, the United States and Japan are poised to strike

a deal to remove such restrictions. It is expected 1.5 million tonnes of high-

grade American rice will enter the market soon.

Impact of trade liberalization:

While developed countries pressured the developing world to abolish

agricultural subsidies in the interest of trade liberalization, rich countries largely

kept subsidies in place for their own farmers. In recent years United States

government subsidies have been added which pushed production toward biofuel

rather than food.

According to some theorists, such as Martin Khor of the Third World Network,

many developing nations have gone from being food independent to being net

food importing economies since the 1970s and 1980s International Monetary

Fund free market economics directives to debtor nations and later the World

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Trade Organization's Agreement on Agriculture. In opening developing

countries to developed world food imports which continue to be subsidized by

Western governments, developing nations have become dependent upon food

imports which are cheaper than those which can be produced by local

smallholders’ agriculture, even in the poorest regions of the world.

Financial speculation:

Destabilizing influences, including indiscriminate lending and real estate

speculation, led to a crisis in January 2008, and eroded investment in food

commodities. The United States, in particular, has been facing an economic

crisis which is likely to lead to recession.

Financial speculation in commodity futures following the collapse of the

financial derivatives markets has contributed to the crisis due to a "commodities

super-cycle." Financial speculators seeking quick returns have removed trillions

of dollars from equities and mortgage bonds, some of which has been invested

into food and raw materials. That American commodities speculation could

have a worldwide impact on food prices is reflected in the globalization of food

production. It represents the concentration of wealth throughout the world

which Frances Moore Lappé equates to a weakening in fundamental democracy.

In a recent article for The Nation, she suggests that there is no food shortage but

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that "as long as food is merely a commodity in societies that don't protect

people's right to participate in the market, and as long as farming is left

vulnerable to consolidated power off the farm, many will go hungry, farmers

among them - no matter how big the harvests.

Reduction in world food stockpiles:

Previously nations tended to keep more sizable food stockpiles, but more

recently, due to the pace at which food could be grown and the ease with which

it could be imported, less emphasis was placed on keeping high stockpiles. For

example, in February 2008 wheat stockpiles hit a 60-year low in the United

States. (Wikipedia article "2007-2008 World Food Price crisis).

Armed conflicts and mass migration:

In 2011 the Horn of Africa suffered one of the worst food crises in recent years,

affecting over 12 million people. Severe drought was compounded by conflict

in Somalia and widespread displacement across the region. A key message to

emerge was that more could have been done in response to early warnings of

drought and likely food shortages in order to limit the effects of the crisis. Had

funders given preventively – rather than responding after the full extent of the

crisis had hit – much of the devastation could have been avoided. The eventual

humanitarian response cost millions of dollars more than it would have if early

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http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2007%E2%80%932008_world_food_price_crisis&oldid=252130792


preventive measures had been put in place. More importantly, delays in funding

needlessly cost the lives and livelihoods of many thousands of people that could

otherwise have been saved.

Picture; Somali refugees in Kenya-- By David Hecht for the Washington Post.

Security restrictions on aid delivery in Somalia:In July 2011 the UN identified a number of key operational constraints that

were severely inhibiting relief efforts. Of particular note was the limited

humanitarian access to affected areas of Somalia due to ongoing insecurity and

restrictions imposed by armed groups. In areas of Somalia controlled by

al-Shabab the group had put in place aid bans on several agencies, preventing

food from entering some of the worst struck areas of famine.

In south-central Somalia armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, extremism and

piracy caused further problems in terms of aid delivery and relief efforts.

The refugee crisis:

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A quarter of Somalia’s population was displaced due to the war, and by July

2011 humanitarian organizations in Ethiopia and Kenya were struggling to cope

with the vast influx of refugees. An average of 1,400 Somalis sought refuge at

Kenya’s Dadaab complex every day, with the camp hosting over four times its

intended capacity of 90,000.

The extraordinarily high numbers of refugees arriving in camps caused an

entirely new set of problems. Furthermore, due to a lack of space in the main

refugee camp some 65,000 people had settled on the outskirts where access to

basic services and food supply was minimal. In places like Syria, Central

African Republic and Mali, numerous people die every day of hunger and

starvation as a result of the ongoing armed conflict in those regions. People

could not remain in their locality to practice agriculture; they need to migrate in

mass to a safe haven where they will be saved from the dangers of the conflicts

in their areas. The mass migration of refugees from Syria to Lebanon for

instance has resulted in adverse food shortage for both Syrians and Lebanese

alike.

Food Crisis in Nigeria:

Importation and Consumption of Food in Nigeria:

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Nigeria has been a major consumer and importer of rice and tomato in Africa.

Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

recently revealed that the country spends over N356 billion on yearly

importation of rice, out of which about N1 billion is used per day.

Former Nigerian Agric Minister, Akinwumi Adesina.

The country today is a net importer of rice, which had also adversely affected

local production tantamount to the cabal involved in rice importation.

Akinwumi also stated in an interview with a media organisation that, “Nigeria,

as I said, is running a prodigal consumption pattern in the sense that we are

spending billions of Naira everyday importing rice from Thailand and India

when we can grow that rice here. “If you go to Sokoto or to Kebbi, Kano,

Katsina, Niger, Kogi, Ofada rice in Ogun State, down to Abakaliki and to the

Niger-Delta, we have up-land rice, low-land rice, Fadama rice, all types of rice

that can be grown here, yet we are buying rice.”

Challenges in Nigeria’s rice production:

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Some of the issues include high input costs like cost of credit, and imported

equipment, agrochemicals due to taxes (legal and illegal), tariffs and duties.

There is also the problem of policy instability (ban, unban, tariffs) that market

decision-making and planning highly uncertain and put investments at great

risk. Other unattractive conditions include low technology base

(mechanization), decaying infrastructure, high interest rates, weak institutions

(such as poorly-funded research institutes, public extension system, and seeds

certification), and corruption-ridden fertilizer distribution system and low public

sector investments in agriculture. The rice farmers have been frustrated with the

scarcity and high input costs. This has led to farmers not using inputs such as

fertilizers and other agrochemicals and those who use them use sub – optimal

proportions of the inputs resulting in low and poor quality yields. Rice Farmers

Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, has the objectives of supporting their members

on production, processing and marketing of rice as well as the possibility of

supplying inputs at low prices, but these objectives have not seen the light of the

day. Access to markets for patronage is at the low side, capacity underutilization

of existing small-scale mills. Obsolete and inefficient processing technology

have remained a serious challenge in rice production, therefore no value is

added to the rice as it has a kind of smell and is unappealing. The rice contains

pebbles and other hard objects. Poor road network has made it difficult for the

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conveyance of paddy to the mills or markets. All these combine with on-farm

constraints to make rice production in Nigeria uncompetitive.

Government’s efforts to stop rice importation:

There has been stupendous rice consumption in Nigeria since the 1970s and

creating a substantial surge in rice imports since then, making rice a political

commodity in the country. On one side rice became a critical component of the

Nigerian diet and the other side, a major consumer of the country’s foreign

exchange. The federal government in 1985 imposed a ban on rice imports in

order to facilitate and increase local production of the precious grain and to

meet the high demand for the product. However, in 1995 the import ban was

lifted as the local supplies, although showing improvement, could not meet the

demand for the commodity. Therefore lifting of the ban resulted in incessant

importations, and not being affected by duty hikes by the government. Nigeria

has continued to be an attractive market as compared to other West African

markets as it imports parboiled rice which is of relatively higher value unlike

other regional countries. It is indeed lamentable for a country such as Nigeria

with huge human and natural resources (land and water), including capital has

continued to bear the burden of unbearable pain of rice importation for many

decades following huge capital flight and increasing unemployment. The

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industry has turned out to be a shadow of itself as some government officials

had virtually grounded the production of rice in the country and had connived

with some international businessmen who have continued to milk away the

resources that would have been used to develop and boost rice production.

The current spate of rice importation gives serious concern as the nation

celebrates 53 rd anniversary of its independence.

It is disheartening to see rice importers from India, like the owners of Stallion

Group, the Vasawani Brothers, who won the coveted national award of

Thailand, as ‘Thailand Best Friend’ in 2009, which was handed over by the

Prime Minister, Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva to the Group’s Managing Director, Mr.

Mahesh Vaswani, as a mark of recognition for exporting Thai rice to Nigeria

and other import-dependent African countries.

The over 40-year-old Stallion Group, were amongst the eminent international

rice traders, and was instrumental in promoting Thailand rice through their

extensive sales and distribution infrastructure penetrating into African markets.

Past administrations had failed to sustain rice production in the country

following the poor implementation of different agricultural policies such as

Operation Feed the Nation, Green Revolution, School to Farm, and others.

(http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/rice-consumption-importation-nigeria-solution-sight).

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Ordeal of rice farmers:

The painful part is rice farmers have been in crisis since the late 1970’s till date

as the policies of government do not protect them from the hostile competition

they have been facing from rice importing merchants.

A report has it that rice farmers in Lagos were passing through hard times as

narrated by President, Badagry Rice Farmers Association, Ibrahim Iroko, who

said after harvesting and processing the rice, everything produced is bought off

immediately by bulk buyers. Iroko who spoke on behalf of all other farmers at

the rice farm explains the business.

He says, “We plant different varieties of rice such as Ofada, Nerica 8 and Faro

44. The rice we produce is more nutritious than the imported ones where most

of the nutrients have been washed off during processing.

“Once we harvest and process, people buy off immediately. The demand is high

even for local rice but the quantity we are able to produce is not much.

The Lagos State Government has been very helpful but we appeal to the Federal

Government to offer help to rice farmers so we can plant larger quantities by

making available tractors, harvesters, boom sprayers which is needed to spray

the farm and kill weeds at the early stage.

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“With mechanisation, farming would become more attractive to youths as

opposed to this growing trend of ‘okada’ business.

“Rice farming without mechanisation is tedious and not so profitable.

For instance, when rice is planted today, the following day, the boom sprayer

has to be used to spray herbicides to prevent weeds. If done, weeds would not

come up until about two months later by which time the rice would have fully

grown.

“We plant upland and lowland rice here in Itoga. We have about 51 varieties of

rice, but we choose Nerica 8 which matures in 72 days because the stalk is not

so strong to support the weight of birds perching on it and sucking the milk.

“We normally start planting in March, but due to climate change we would need

irrigation so that when the rain does not come when it is supposed to, we would

not lose our crops.

We are so thankful to the Lagos state government that has started constructing

irrigation facilities, so that rain or no rain, we can plant rice at least twice a year.

We have been planting only once a year.

“Another major challenge is working capital. With the exception of some, many

of the farmers have just one or two hectares under cultivation. But one farmer

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can more easily manage five to 15 hectares. ‘’In one hectare of land, if there is

no delay in rain and all goes well, about 2. 5 tonnes of rice can be gotten from

one hectare that is about 50-100 bags. We use 25 or 50 kilo bags. We sell 25

kilo at N3, 500 and 50 kilo for N7, 000. So about N350, 000 can be realised as

gross profit on one hectare but so many factors can reduce the profit on that.

“Before the rice is harvested, the farm has to be weeded so as not to harvest

weeds with it. About 10 people are needed to weed one hectare and they get N1,

500 per day. It takes about five days to weed one hectare. That is about N75,

000 on weeding per hectare alone and there are many other expenses that are

incurred.

“So farmers need working capital to cover such expenses. So we keep imploring

the government to provide access to finance so as to have mass production of

food”.

This has been the common experience of rice farmers for many decades in this

country, which is as a result of poor political will to ensure self-sufficiency in

the production, consumption and importation of rice by Nigerians.

(Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), 2012).

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Nigeria is still a major food importer because she has not truly developed her

agricultural potentials to the level of maximum productivity. Today, about 90

percent of Nigeria's agricultural output comes from inefficient small farms,

according to the World Bank, and most farmers have little or no access to

fertilizers, irrigation or other modern inputs. Most do not even grow enough

food to feed their own families. According to UNICEF, 65 percent of the

country's population - roughly 91 million people - are what humanitarian

organizations call "food insecure.

The recent paste of insecurity in the country, especially in the North eastern

axis has also greatly contributed to the escalation of food insecurity in the

country. Most of the rural peasant farmers have been displaced by the

insurgency into neighbouring states and even foreign lands like Niger and

Cameroon, where they are not properly settled not to talk of venturing into

sustainable agriculture. In the hinterlands and southern axis, the recent 2013

flood, washed away many farm lands thereby rendering many petty farmers

handicap in terms of productivity. In Nigeria both arable and livestock

agriculture is currently on the downward trend.

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Fig. 5: Chart of food import in Nigeria from 2006 – 2012in million tons.

Recommendation:

So far it has been established that indeed there is food crisis in the world which

has automatically translated to hunger and starvation for a vast percentage of

world population. I certainly am not interested in just identifying the menace

but also to give reasonable recommendations, which if adhere to will definitely

go a long way in reversing the trend of food insecurity in the world at large and

Nigeria in particular. The recommendation so far includes the following;

Consistent government food development policies;

The government of individual nations should initiate policies that are

sustainable in nature, in terms of food security and distribution. Also the world

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government should make more stringent laws compelling nations to be self

sufficient in terms of food production and distribution.

The United Nations should hold responsible, any government that fail to exploit

at least 60% of its agricultural production potentials. Countries that constantly

face destructive natural disasters should be adequately assisted by foreign aids

and donor agencies that can provide them with sustainable food supply.

Implementation of recommendations and policies of international

conventions:

Important recommendations and policies derived from international convention

on food security should be implemented by world nations. The objective of the

Food Aid Convention 1999, the latest in a long series of such multilateral

cooperation instruments since 1967, is to contribute to world food security and

to improve the ability of the international community to respond to emergency

food situations and other food needs of developing countries.

Under the FAC, donor countries pledge to provide specified minimum amounts

of food aid to developing countries with the greatest needs, irrespective of

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fluctuations in world food prices and supplies. FAC donors are encouraged to

improve the effectiveness and quality of food aid in support of food security,

particularly for the most vulnerable groups, and seek to improve member co-

ordination in the field of food aid. An increasing proportion of donors’

operations take the form of purchases from other developing countries or of

local purchases, mostly channelled multilaterally. At the 106th session of the

Food aid Committee members agreed not to extend the Food Aid Convention,

1999. Accordingly, this Convention expired on 30 June 2012. On 1st January

2013, a new Food Assistance Convention came into effect.

(Food Aid Committee Secretariat: Monday 12 April, 2010.

www.foodassistanceconvention.org)

Ending World Hunger

Ending world hunger is conceptually quite simple. However, actually putting it

into practice is far from simple. First, the access to a healthy and varied diet

needs to be recognized for the basic human right that it clearly is. Governments

must commit to ending hunger among their people and they must take forceful

action to carry out this commitment. In many countries, even at this time, there

is sufficient food produced to feed the entire population at a high level of

nutrition. This is, of course, most evident in the United States, where so much

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food is produced. It is nothing less than a crime that so many of the poor in the

United States are hungry, malnourished, or don’t know where their next meal

will come from (which itself takes a psychological toll) when there is actually

plenty of food.

In the short run, the emergency situation of increasingly severe hunger and

malnutrition needs to be addressed with all resources at a country’s disposal.

Although mass bulk distribution of grains or powdered milk can play a role,

countries might consider the Venezuelan innovation of setting up feeding

houses in all poor neighbourhoods. When the people believe that the

government is really trying to help them, and they are empowered to find or

assist in a solution to their own problems, a burst of enthusiasm and

volunteerism results. For example, although the food in Venezuela’s feeding

program is supplied by the government, the meals for poor children, the elderly,

and the infirm are prepared in, and distributed from, peoples’ homes using

considerable amounts of volunteer labour. In addition, Venezuela has developed

a network of stores that sell basic foodstuffs at significant discounts over prices

charged in private markets.

Brazil started a program in 2003 that is aimed at alleviating the conditions of the

poorest people. Approximately one-quarter of Brazil’s population receive direct

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payments from the national government under the Bolsa Família (Family Fund)

antipoverty program. Under this program a family with a per capita daily

income below approximately $2 per person per day receives a benefit of up to

$53 per month per person (The Economist, February 7, 2008). This infusion of cash

is dependent on the family’s children attending school and participating in the

national vaccination program. This program is certainly having a positive effect

on peoples’ lives and nutrition. It is, however, a system that does not have the

same effect as Venezuela’s programs, which mobilize people to work together

for their own and their community’s benefit.

Urban gardens have been used successfully in Cuba as well as other countries to

supply city dwellers with food as well as sources of income. These should be

strongly promoted—with creative use of available space in urban settings.

Agriculture must become one of the top priorities for the third world. Even the

World Bank is beginning to stress the importance of governments assisting

agriculture in their countries. As Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former managing

director of the World Bank, has stated,

Today the attention of the world’s policy makers is focused on the sub-prime

woes, and the financial crises. But the real crisis is that of hunger and

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malnutrition…this is the real problem that should grab the world’s attention. We

know that 75 percent of the world’s poor people are rural and most of them

depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture is today, more than ever,

a fundamental instrument for fighting hunger, malnutrition, and for supporting

sustainable development and poverty reduction. (All-Africa Global Media, February

19, 2008).

Almost every country in the world has the soil, water, and climate resources to

grow enough food so that all their people can eat a healthy diet. In addition, the

knowledge and crop varieties already exist in most countries so that if farmers

are given adequate assistance they will be able to grow reasonably high yields

of crops.

Although enhanced agricultural production is essential, much of the emphasis in

the past has been on production of export crops. While this may help a

country’s balance of payments, export oriented agriculture does not ensure

sufficient food for everyone nor does it promote a healthy rural environment. In

addition to basic commodities such as soybeans, export-oriented agriculture also

leads naturally to the production of high-value luxury crops demanded by

export markets (luxuries from the standpoint of the basic food needs of a poor

third world country), rather than the low-value subsistence crops needed to meet

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the needs of the domestic population. Production of sufficient amounts of the

right kinds of food within each country’s borders—by small farmers working in

cooperatives or on their own and using sustainable techniques—is the best way

to achieve the goal of “food security”. In this way the population may be

insulated, at least partially, from the price fluctuations on the world market.

This, of course, also means not taking land out of food production to produce

crops for the biofuel markets.

One of the ways to do this and at the same time help with the problem of so

many people crowded into urban slums—the people most susceptible to food

price increases—is to provide land through meaningful agrarian reforms. But

land itself is not enough. Beginning or returning farmers need technical and

financial support in order to produce food. Additionally, social support systems,

such as cooperatives and community councils, need to be developed to help

promote camaraderie and to solidify the new communities that are developed.

Perhaps each community needs to be “seeded” with a sprinkling of devoted

activists. Also, housing, electricity, water, and wastewater need to be available

to make it attractive for people living in the cities to move to the countryside.

Another way to encourage people to move to the country to become farmers is

to appeal to patriotism and instil the idea that they are real pioneers, establishing

a new food system to help their countries gain food self-sufficiency, i.e.,

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independence from transnational agribusiness corporations and provision of

healthy food for all the nation’s people. These pioneering farmers need to be

viewed by themselves, the rest of the society, and their government as critical to

the future of their countries and the well-being of the population. They must be

treated with the great respect that they deserve.

Conclusion:

Food is a human right and governments have a responsibility to see that their

people are well fed. In addition, there are known ways to end hunger, including

emergency measures to combat the current critical situation, urban gardens,

agrarian reforms that include a whole support system for farmers and

sustainable agricultural techniques that enhance the environment. The present

availability of food to people reflects very unequal economic and political

power relationships within and between countries. A sustainable and secure

food system requires a different and much more equitable relationship among

people. The more the poor and farmers themselves are included in all aspects of

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the effort to gain food security, and the more they are energized in the process,

the greater will be the chance of attaining lasting food security. As late

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, a country that has done so much to deal

with poverty and hunger, has put it,

‘‘Yes, it is important to end poverty, to end misery, but the most important

thing is to offer power to the poor so that they can fight for themselves’’.

Bibliography:

Food and Agricultural Organization

(FOA 1997 – 2012).

Wikipedia article "2007-2008 World

Food Price crisis.

Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development, 2008.

Goldman Sachs and American

Insurance Group (AIG), 2008.

Michael David, Agricultural Specialist

in food &Agricultural import

regulation & stardard-narrative.

FAIRS Country report, Nigeria, 2009.

Food and Water Watch (2009).

United Nations Conference on Trade

and Development, (2009).

The UN Special Reporter on Food,

Olivier De Schutter, 2010.

The 2nd Global Conference on

Agriculture, Food Security and

Climate Change - "Hunger for Action.

- held in Ha Noï, Viet Nam, from 3 to

7 September 2012.

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Martin Khor of the Third World

Network, 2012.

David Hecht of the Washington Post,

2012.

Nigeria Agric Minister, Dr. Akinwumi

Adesina in Daily Independence, 2013.

Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria

(RIFAN), 2013.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/

2013/12/rice-consumption-

importation-nigeria-solution-sight.

www.foodassistanceconvention.org,

2013.

UNICEF, food aid report on Africa

2013.

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http://www.foodassistanceconvention.org/

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/rice-consumption-importation-nigeria-solution-sight



global food crisis with emphasis on nigeria

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