By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has been urged to urgently collaborate with all critical stakeholders in the agriculture sector to stabilise the rising cost of food and fertilizer.
In a new report, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) stated that this action can be taken by providing viable seedlings, supporting the growth of alternative nutritious grains, and driving the adoption of innovative farm practices.
In the report titled the War in Ukraine and the Rush to Feed the World, which explores in detail the multiple direct and indirect impacts of the turmoil in Ukraine on global food systems, the body submitted that the introduction of alternative sources of fertilizer will help reduce the country’s reliance on food imports.
The BCG report co-authored with Food Systems for the Future warned that Nigeria and 44 other countries around the world are severely exposed to the impact of the Ukraine-war induced food crisis.
“The impact of the Ukraine war on our food systems calls for critical and immediate review of our budgetary allocation,” the Managing Director and Partner at BCG Nigeria, Mr Stefano Niavas, stated.
He disclosed that, “Currently, Nigeria spends over 27 times of its Agriculture allocation to service its debt. Compounded with the Ukraine war and the lingering challenges of COVID-19, the average debt-to-GDP ratio across the continent is expected to rise from 60 per cent to 70 per cent.”
Mr Niavas advised that, “To minimise the impact of the crisis on Nigeria’s food systems, the government and all critical stakeholders should ensure stabilising the rising cost of food and fertilizer by the provision of viable seedlings, supporting the growth of alternative nutritious grains, driving the adoption of innovative farm practices. The introduction of alternative sources of fertilizer will help reduce the country’s reliance on food imports.”
According to the UN Task Team for the Global Crisis Response Group, an estimated 1.7 billion people, most of them in developing economies, could suffer severely increased food insecurity, higher energy prices, or greater debt burdens.
Each of these individual factors adversely affects people’s ability to feed themselves. At the same time, there is a critical need to address them more holistically and across all sectors in order to reshape our food systems so that we can counteract this humanitarian crisis — and future ones.
