As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Food Day, attention must be drawn to the growing challenges of food insecurity, poor nutrition, inadequate agricultural infrastructure and the rising cost of food across the country, particularly in Rivers State.
This wake up call was made by a Non Governmental Organisation, Community Advancement Initiative (CAI) while speaking to Kristina Reports ahead of the World Food Day celebrated globally on October 16. World Food Day provides an opportunity for governments at all levels to assess their efforts towards ensuring that citizens have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, while strengthening agricultural production and promoting sustainable food systems.
National coordinator of CAI, Edoo Friday-Nekabari said the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, also known as Zero Hunger, calls for an end to hunger, the achievement of food security, improved nutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture. He however lamented that achieving these objectives in Nigeria remains a major challenge, given the prevailing security concerns, inadequate agricultural infrastructure, poor food storage and processing facilities, and the apparent lack of sufficient investment in the agricultural sector.
“The above becomes an issue in a nation ravaged by insecurity where farmers are chased away from their farms and even their homes, a nation where mechanised agriculture is still very much below average, agricultural processing and storage is still a big issue, farm produce area allowed to rotten and waste in very large quantities, poor storage facilities occasioned by apeleptic power supply, lack of access to credit facilities and other incentives including very poor Budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector”
According to Edoo, while substantial quantities of food are lost after harvest, millions of Nigerians continue to struggle to afford basic food items, with many families are forced to reduce their daily meals or go to bed hungry.
“Without much ado, many Nigerias go to sleep on empty stomachs and the situation remains gloomy. Government is still largely playing lip service to agriculture and food security in Nigeria”.
Speaking further, he said the challenges appear particularly troubling in Rivers State, noting that despite its agricultural potential and access to water resources, the State continues to grapple with concerns over the state of its agricultural infrastructure and the limited utilisation of facilities that could contribute significantly to food production and economic development.
“The situation is even worse in Rivers State where a banana plantation was disbanded, the Sunghai farm remains nonfunctional, the fish farm at Buguma complete shutdown, no functional institute or research centre for agriculture and value chain.
Youths are you not encouraged in any way to go to farm and to take part in agricultural production. The price of food remains skyrocketed unaffordable and in most cases inaccessible making people to sleep on empty stomachs”.
The National coordinator of CAI, Edoo Friday-Nekabari also said that the situation has also been worsened by flooding, which has submerged farmlands in affected communities, destroyed crops and disrupted farming activities as farmers are unable to cultivate their land or recover their investments, which further threatens food availability and household incomes.
“The ravaging flood has even worsened the situation as most farms are still submerged up till today”.
He therefore called for an urgent and coordinated action from the Rivers State Government, local government authorities, agricultural stakeholders and relevant development partners.
“I therefore look forward to government’s efforts by increasing budgetary allocation for 2027 in the agricultural sector. Government should open new farms and revive existing ones, provide incentives for youths and training for farmers, employ extension workers to educate farmers, especially in the rural areas, farm inputs and improved seedlings be provided for the 2027 agricultural year”
Edoo concluded by saying “food security, good nutrition, and a healthy people will bring about a wealthy nation”, calling on the Government to seize the opportunity presented by the 2027 budget to reposition agriculture, empower farmers and ensure that no resident is left to go to bed hungry because of the failure to make food affordable and accessible.
The World Food Day 2026 theme is “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.”
