By Faridat Salifu
Nigeria is on the brink of a major food crisis as 34.7 million people across 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may face acute food and nutrition insecurity between June and August 2026, according to the October 2025 Cadre Harmonisé (CH) report released in Abuja.
The report, jointly produced by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and development partners, paints a grim picture of rising hunger, displacement, and malnutrition despite ongoing interventions.
It further reveals that about 27.2 million Nigerians, including 485,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), are already grappling with crisis-level or worse food insecurity between October and December 2025.
Addressing participants at the workshop unveiling the findings, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary of FMAFS, said the analysis underscores the urgency of collective action to safeguard livelihoods and prevent a deepening humanitarian emergency.
“These figures represent human lives — families struggling to eat, farmers losing their livelihoods, and communities on the edge of survival. We cannot afford to treat this as routine data,” Ogunbiyi warned.
Although inflation and the consumer price index (CPI) have shown slight declines, the report indicates that most Nigerian households continue to struggle with food affordability and dietary quality.
Over 55 percent of households maintaining minimal food consumption standards reportedly rely on negative coping strategies, such as skipping meals, reducing portion sizes, or taking on debt to buy food.
Persistent currency instability, rising transport costs, and inflated food prices were identified as the main drivers of the worsening situation.
The cost of essential food items — including vegetable oil, dairy, meat, and condiments — rose by more than 35 percent during the review period, significantly straining purchasing power.
The CH report also noted that armed conflict, banditry, and kidnapping continue to restrict farmers’ access to farmlands, especially in the North-East, North-West, and North-Central regions.
The rising cost of fertilisers and agrochemicals, up by 56 percent, has further discouraged farmers from engaging in the upcoming 2025/2026 dry-season farming.
While the importation of food commodities has temporarily reduced market prices, it has also undermined local producers, who recorded heavy losses during the 2025 cropping season due to poor sales.
The nutrition situation in several northern states remains dire. Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Katsina, and Jigawa are classified between “Serious” (Phase 3) and “Critical” (Phase 4) malnutrition levels, while communities in Maiduguri, Jere, Mobbar, Jibia, and Mashi are already in emergency phases of acute malnutrition.
In contrast, parts of Benue State recorded marginal improvement, with IDP camps in Makurdi and Guma shifting from “Alert” to “Acceptable” nutrition levels following targeted humanitarian interventions.
The report highlighted that four key factors — insecurity, climate shocks, population displacement, and the effects of food imports on local production — are driving the country’s deepening food crisis.
Dr. Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, commended the government for maintaining the CH process but emphasized the need for urgent, multi-sectoral response to avert large-scale hunger.
“We are witnessing the compounded effects of conflict, climate shocks, and economic stress on food systems. This report must inform immediate humanitarian and development planning,” he said.
He also called on states not yet involved in the CH process to join before the March 2026 cycle to ensure full national coverage and improve data quality.
Officials said the report’s recommendations will inform upcoming interventions, including the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) and the National Food Security and Nutrition Emergency Plan, aimed at stabilizing food production and reducing hunger risks across Nigeria.
