Food Insecurity Challenges and Sustainable Agricultural Development in Nigeria

6 Pages Posted: 9 Feb 2013 Last revised: 13 Feb 2013

See all articles by Friday Idiku

Friday Idiku

University of Calabar - Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension

Augustine Angba

University of Calabar - Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension

Monday Ushie

University of Calabar (UNICAL) - Sociology

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

The aggregate index of agricultural production in Nigeria which has virtually remained in the hands of small holders has been on the decline thereby hindering the country’s historical challenge of providing the basic needs for the people. Meanwhile, the country as a member of the United Nations has keyed into the number one goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is halving poverty and hunger by 2015. It is therefore against this background that this paper examines generally the problem of food insecurity in Nigeria and sustainable development. Other specific objectives include examining the causes and effects of food insecurity in Nigeria, identifying policies formulated, and evaluating the policies in order to make appropriate recommendations. The study found that the root causes of food insecurity include: poverty, corruption and national policies that do not promote equal access to food for all; and also that the country lacks storage and mechanization facilities and thus spends substantial income from oil on food importation. Research, farmers and extension linkages was poor. Therefore, it is recommended that there is need for a strong political will to transform the predominantly small holders to become efficient as is the case with the Japanese experience by ensuring that food storage policy place emphasis on small scale food storage operations, the mechanization of Nigerian agriculture must be based largely on indigenous engineering initiative and research-extension-farmers linkages be strengthen and Nigeria will bid farewell to food insecurity for sustainable development.

Keywords: Food insecurity, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Policy, Small holders, Sustainable Development

Suggested Citation

Idiku, Friday and Angba, Augustine and Ushie, Monday, Food Insecurity Challenges and Sustainable Agricultural Development in Nigeria (2012). OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 25-30, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2213961

Friday Idiku (Contact Author)

University of Calabar - Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension ( email )

PMB 1115
Faculty of Social Sciences
Calabar, AK 54004
Nigeria

Augustine Angba

University of Calabar - Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension ( email )

PMB 1115
Faculty of Social Sciences
Calabar, AK 54004
Nigeria

Monday Ushie

University of Calabar (UNICAL) - Sociology ( email )

Calabar
Nigeria

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,774
Abstract Views
6,302
Rank
18,042
PlumX Metrics