World Food Day

A couple of days back, Nigeria joined other nations to mark 2005 World Food Day. With the events over, it is important for us to ask ourselves what really we mean when we talk about food security and what needs to be done to ensure that this great country can meet the food needs of its population and secure food sovereignty.

Food Security in Nigeria

At the time of independence, agriculture was the backbone of the Nigerian economy. It continues to be the main source of employment in the economy, accounting for about 70 percent of the active labour force. However, due to the increased importance of oil in the economy, the contribution of agriculture to national revenue has declined from 80 per cent in 1960 to less than 10 per cent in 1990s.

Today, Nigeria faces a challenge in meeting the basic food needs of its population. For many years, the government's annual budget allocation for agriculture was only about 1 percent. The current government, however, has begun a massive new budgetary allocation to the sector. Expectations are that the effects will be felt shortly. In the meantime, agriculture is an increasingly unsustainable livelihood, especially for the younger generation.

The World Bank defines food security as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life."

The majority of Nigerians still depend on the sector for their living. For instance, the majority of the people in the Middle Belt, hitherto described as the 'Food Basket' of the country, depend on the sector. In the past, a substantial portion of the country's agricultural production, including cassava, cocoa, cotton, maize, yams, groundnuts and rice, came from the zone. In the northern part of Nigeria, cotton farming used to play a significant role in the livelihoods of poor communities. This was when cotton farming and processing was so popular that the area was branded Nigeria's 'Cotton Belt'. The southern part of the country also made the list of the world's largest producers of cocoa. Various parts on Nigeria have crops they were famous for producing. All these are now history. The groundnut pyramids have disappeared.

There are different definitions of food security, all basically bringing out the same concept. For instance, the World Bank defines food security as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life." The FAO Committee on World Food Security sees it as a situation where "all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food they need."

Defining Food Security

In the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1990 {P.L.480}, it is seen as "access by all people at all times to sufficient food and nutrition for a healthy and productive life." USAID Bureau for Africa sees food security as a situation "when all people at all times have access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy life."

Generally, there is near unanimity on the view that food security is the ability of a country to feed its population in a sustainable manner. The divergence of views arises as to what method a country may employ in achieving food security. These views can be summarised into two main general groups, viz:

• Those that support the issue of food security being addressed from the comparative advantage criterion.
• Those that advocate for the strategic crops criterion.

The comparative advantage criterion is an outgrowth from the classical economic school of thought. Promoters argue that a country should not necessarily be able to produce all the food it needs to feed its people.

Rather, they propose that a country should focus on the products or services that it has comparative advantages in the production and use of the resources it can generate to import food. In the case of Nigeria, this would imply that the country should focus on producing more oil and maximize all it can earn from this product to import all the food it requires to feed itself.

However, this argument does not seem to address the issue of the source, and hence livelihood, food sovereignty and other issues. Because a population may have all the food that it desires in the right quantity and quality, but if it does not produce the food, it may face the consequence of shocks in the international macro economic and socio-political arenas.

In addition to the problem of lack of food sovereignty, there are a plethora of challenges in the model. These include:

• Problems in the supply chain can lead to hunger and crisis.
• Problems with demand and pricing in the international market for the country's specialized products can adversely effect the country's ability to purchase outside goods, meet debt obligations, etc.
• For a country such as Nigeria where there are weak linkages between the various sectors, challenges still exist with spreading the gains of exports earnings, hence the advantages of specializing in a comparative product will not benefit all citizens equitably.

Again for a country such as Nigeria, the question of sustainability of oil revenue becomes an issue in terms of job creation opportunities that are lost to other countries. As for the strategic crops criterion, promoters summarily share the view that food security should be considered against the backdrop of the extent of strategic importance of the crop(s) in question to the country. The strategic importance here is measured in terms of its economic viability.

While this is a good start, especially as it avoids all the challenges associated with the comparative advantage criterion, it appears the strategic crops criterion does not go far enough in addressing livelihood and rural development issues.

Food sovereignty is inherently important for a country such as Nigeria where agriculture is responsible for the livelihood sustainability of over 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas.

Oxfam's Prespective

At Oxfam we think that food security issues should be addressed from a broader perspective which not only looks strictly from the perspective of a population having as much food as it may need, quantity- and quality-wise, but also from the point of view of the source and hence food sovereignty.

This is inherently important for a country such as Nigeria where agriculture is responsible for the livelihood sustainability of over 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas. Given that the government's current economic policies such as NEEDS, SEEDS and LEEDS are anchored on the creation of wealth and employment generation, Oxfam considers that it should be of huge concern to this government that achieving food security should be also looked at not just from the strategic crops criterion, or "Export Adequacy and Economic Viability" as some may term it, but from a rural development perspective.

Even as we debate the centrality of the various agricultural crops to achieving export adequacy, economic viability, rural development, sustainable livelihoods and above all food sovereignty as a basis for determining how to pursue the goal of food security, it bears to note that there are a number of other factors that play significant roles in determining the achievement of this goal.

These include government agricultural policy, international trade policy, land tenureship laws, access to inputs and their implementation, etc. It is, therefore, imperative that the policy framework that regulates these practices have the input of all stakeholder groups, including farmers and all those involved in the food production cycle. The policies must be sound and clearly understood by all, and should not have contradictory elements.

To the central question of what can NGOs do, we dare say it is pretty apparent to all what the role of the non-state actors should be within this environment. As people and groups who work with farmers at both the grassroots and government levels, it seems to us that our role is clear cut. Our first and foremost role is to support and compliment the role of government in ensuring that it delivers on its policy framework.

On the other hand, we need to question farmers to determine their challenges and needs, and to partner with them towards seeking out solutions to these challenges. In addition, we need to provide opportunities for farmers to access resources, enhance production and access markets by organising themselves effectively.

Specifically, the role of the NGOs should include:

• Helping to make agricultural policies more 'pro-poor' in the way they are formulated and implemented.
• Facilitating market access for the small-scale agricultural producers.
• Facilitating access to agricultural support services and resources by small-scale farmers.
• Strengthening the capacities and confidence of producer groups to define their rights and defend their interests.
• And finally, promoting gender equity in agricultural production and marketing.

The role of the NGOs should include helping to make agricultural policies more 'pro-poor' in the way they are formulated and implemented.

At the other spectrum, as facilitators and catalysts, NGOs should partner with the government in the areas of policy design and formation, create a platform for the producers to participate in policy decision-making process so as to ensure that their views are reflected on policy documents and hence they can understand it and claim ownership of the processes and outcomes which will ensure their full cooperation towards their implementations.

Additionally, for NGOs such as Oxfam, which at the risk of being immodest has abundant international clout and credibility, an added value to influence the thinking, policy and practices of the international community towards ensuring that their agricultural and trade policies are not inimical to the food security of developing nations such as Nigeria. It may be a tall order considering the beggar-thy-neighbour practices of the international community, but with the partnership of all stakeholders in the South we can achieve success.






Contributed by Cecil Nartey on November 15, 2005. Cecil Nartey is the Country Programme Manager, Oxfam GB Nigeria, Abuja. Reprinted with permission from allAfrica.com.

To read another Global Envision article about agriculture in Africa, see Major Plan to Boost African Agriculture Unveiled.

Take a look at this article if you're curious about comparative advantage theory.



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