The Relationship Between Food Shortages and Insecurity
The director of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, Professor Eustace Iyayi, has urged the government to ensure food sufficiency, as food shortages could lead to various sources of insecurity in the country.
Iyayi made the call on Thursday while deliverying his keynote speech on the topic ‘Nigeria: food security, internal security and the feedlot system’ at the celebration of the founder’s day of the Federal College of Production Technology and Animal Health, Ibadan.
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The director pointed out that if there is a deficit in the availability of food in a nation, there will be social unrest that could lead to national insecurity that a peaceful environment was a requirement for a productive agricultural environment that could result in food security.
Iyayi called for the development of a commercial pasture production value chain and the revival of livestock breeding centers so that the country can achieve the desired food and nutritional security.
He also emphasized the need for a special reserve fund to be provided from the recently approved Senate Agricultural Development Fund.
“There is also a need for immediate conversion of published grazing reserves (145 of them out of 405 grazing reserves) in the north and only 2 in Oyo state to ranches,” he said.
Professor Olufemi Oyewole, a professor at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, also highlighted the need for the country to improve its livestock productivity.
Oyewole highlighted the need to consider broader opportunities to reuse agricultural support in ways that provide a public good in the form of climate change mitigation and better environmental outcomes, noting that Nigeria should ensure and build on the positive trade facilitation measures that had been taken to reduce distortions at the border.
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He said this would reinforce the role that world markets could play in ensuring a safe and stable food supply.
“We should consider adopting an integrated approach that can help ensure the resilience of the global food system. With greater resilience, the food system will be better able to provide safe and affordable food for a growing world population and livelihoods for many people.
“This will ensure environmental sustainability in the face of complex environmental challenges and a climate emergency,” he noted.
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