Over 10m Northern Nigerians At Risk Of Food Insecurity – FAO

The officer in charge of Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations (FAO/UN) Nigeria, Patrick David has said over 10million People suffer from food insecurity in Northern Nigeria.

Speaking to Journalists in Abuja, yesterday, at the Stakeholder Meeting and presentation of the Cadre Harmonisé (CH) Analysis of Food and Nutrition Insecurity in Northern Nigeria, he said the results were collated from 16 states analyzed in the CH.

Mr David recalled that the presentation which was the 5th since the inaugural process which began in November, 2015 already showed big success with the commitment of the government of Nigeria to strengthen food security.

Speaking on how the organization arrived at the number of food insecure people, David said “The CH had made the calculations showing there were lots of people in dire needs even if they are not that many, but at the end when you make that calculation you will reach 10 million people who need food and livelihood assistance”

“Where there is no deep crisis like the rest part of the country the FAO supports development for policy making and helps to strengthen the resilience of the population.

Adding that “Where we face some food crises and emergency situations, the FAO in collaboration with the World Food Programme support food security, livelihood assistance and assist instances to provide agricultural inputs” he said.

Speaking on the CH, he said “there have been specific focus on the North-east states particularly in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe where more than 1 million people have been displaced and need support”

“So it’s very important to understand who this people are, where they are, and what they need noting the CH would be helpful as recommendations to the decision makers to know how much food and support to provide to this people, adding that despite the food prices more than 1 million people have returned home” he said.

Also speaking, deputy country director of the United Nations World Food Programme Douglas Mercado said in collaboration with the FAO “over 1 million people were supported with food commodities in February 2017”