Tackling food poverty: A path to sustainable development

The recent discourse over the high prices of food items and how to make food available to Nigerians has brought to the fore a reality we cannot escape: there is a problem with our food supply. Nigeria has a food problem, described as food poverty. It exists in spite of the fact that we produce […]

The recent discourse over the high prices of food items and how to make food available to Nigerians has brought to the fore a reality we cannot escape: there is a problem with our food supply. Nigeria has a food problem, described as food poverty. It exists in spite of the fact that we produce a lot of food. There is food poverty because many citizens are unable to access it, a reality caused by several factors.

Food poverty, like other forms of poverty, requires government intervention as it’s a policy-driven issue. Addressing this challenge is crucial for laying the groundwork for sustainable development in the country. Given that policy shortcomings have contributed to this problem, finding a solution demands innovative approaches to tackling the complex social and economic factors at play.

Many Nigerians experience food poverty because they are unable to access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs. This requirement is essential for them to maintain an active and healthy life. Today, this is evident on the faces of many Nigerians, both in the cities and rural areas.

The challenge of food poverty manifests in various forms, especially food insecurity, malnutrition, and hunger. Several million Nigerians currently face the threat of food insecurity, which is uncertainty over access to food due to financial constraints, lack of availability, or other factors. There is physical evidence of malnutrition in the country, visible on people of all age brackets, an obvious indication of the fact that many people these days do not receive the relevant amount of nutrition that their bodies need.

• FCT senior citizens condemn ‘tarnished’ reports on Abuja activist’s death
• Gunmen abduct corps member, varsity student in Jos

That ties strongly with the condition of hunger, which is also quite evident in the country.  Hunger involves a physical discomfort or pain caused by a lack of food that the body needs to maintain its stamina. Hunger does not end up as an internal discomfort, as it soon shows on the body of the hungry person: the body shows signs of distortion, weakness and general exhaustion. Over time, a hungry person gradually becomes unable to carry out the normal duties the body previously engaged in.

Different projections and reports have painted pictures of the levels of food poverty in Nigeria. While these figures quoted may contain some discrepancies, they do point out the undeniable fact that this phenomenon does, in fact, exist in the country. In March 2023, the World Food Programme issued an estimate that at least 64 million Nigerians, or about 32 per cent of the population, lacked adequate food. And according to the United Nations, about 31 million Nigerians experienced acute food insecurity in July 2025, just two months ago. Still another reports that Nigerians are suffering from acute hunger, further emphasising the severity of food poverty in the country.

Why would a country that produces lots of food experience a high incidence of food poverty? Unravelling this is at the heart of solving the problem. One of the contributory factors has to do with the state of the market in a country. The market in this context deals with the range of activities from the farmers to the consumers. This determines the accessibility of the farm products and the prices at which they are sold to the final consumers, including the poor or vulnerable members of society. It also has to do with the physical infrastructure that delivers the food items from production points to the location of those who buy the food for consumption, not for further refining or processing.

This is what has come to be known now as the value chain. Each step the food takes from the producer to the consumer is a value-adding stage. Tragically, in an environment strewn with inefficiencies and structural deficiencies, each of these stages has become a tollgate. The transporter buys petrol at a high price, so he raises his fare, most times disproportionately, but is there anyone or agency to tell him by how much his fare should go up? Now, if the food has to be delivered to rural areas or those with failed roads, the price gets higher because the fare to such locations is higher. Nigerians know how quickly commercial drivers quickly raise their fares, even when it just rains and there is a little challenge on the roads.

The refiner or processor is paying for electricity, now at a tariff higher than before, so he too raises his price. Whichever way you look at the value chain, it has raised the price at which the food reaches the consumer. This is the part of the food poverty loop. Meanwhile, the farmer was faced with higher input prices for fertilisers, seedlings, and labour, among others.

The above factors call for a multifaceted approach, which is necessary to combat food poverty in Nigeria. This includes investing in agricultural infrastructure, improving access to credit and markets for smallholder farmers, and implementing social safety nets to support vulnerable populations.