The World Bank estimates that at least 64 million Nigerians need emergency food and nutritional assistance as a result of the concomitant effects of growing inflation and climate change, among other things.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, there are approximately 24.8 million people in Nigeria who are acutely hungry, which reflects a system of widespread deprivation and rising food insecurity.
This information was included in the bank’s most recent food security update, “Food security update: World Bank Response to Rising Food Insecurity,” which our correspondent was able to get.
In West Africa and Central Africa, there are approximately 107.5 million people who live in a stressed state and may experience a food crisis if more shocks to the present farming season occur.
The 27 million forecast by Oxfam, ALIMA, and Save the Children, who warned that food crises in West Africa might affect people in Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Nigeria, is now almost double that number.
The report also noted that since the Global Report on Food Crises began in 2017, the number of individuals experiencing crises and worse acute food insecurity was at its highest ever level.
Continual trade restrictions, high transportation costs, the Ukraine conflict, and currency depreciation in coastal nations, according to the bank, have led to an increase in food prices that have made it more difficult for households to afford enough nutrient-dense food.
Prices for the main primary foods in West Africa are typically 25% to 40% higher now than they were five years ago.
Additionally, it claimed that the region’s food systems are losing productivity due to the acceleration of climate change.
The cost of food had been rising steadily, according to reports.
The Food problem Prevention Network names civil unrest, high inflation, and climate change as the main aggravating factors of the present food and nutrition security problem.
