Forty per cent of Nigerians lack adequate access to food, in spite of the Federal Government's investment in agriculture, a don said on Friday.

Prof. Babatope Alabadan of the Agriculture Department of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said this on Friday at the 25th inaugural lecture of the institution.

The title of the lecture was ''Housing and Food Security: Now and in the Future Lesson from the Termites''.

According to him, more than 800 million people globally, including 300 million children go to bed hungry daily due to food insecurity.

He advised the Federal Government to ensure that Nigerians had physical, economic and social access to food, if Vision 20:2020 is to be accomplished.

``The three tiers of government in the country must go beyond paying lip service to food security by ensuring that the people have physical, economic and social access to food, if Vision 20:2020 is to be accomplished.''

He blamed the food shortages in the country on inadequate storage facilities, a development which, he said, had continued to affect the country's economy and posed a threat to its national security.

Alabadan then advised the three tiers of government in the country to embark on mass construction of silos, especially for small-scale farmers, to reduce food losses and increase local supplies.

The silos, he said, would ensure food availability, accessibility, stability and utilization.

They would also improve market resilience to external shocks, reduce losses and increases supplies to local market at affordable prices.

According to the academic, food losses represent a significant cost to the economy and greatly impacts on the nation's ability to feed the world.

``Losses affect food quality and safety, economic development and the environment,'' he said
Culled from The Leadership
http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/46654/2013/02/01/40_nigerians_lack_access_food_says_don.html

just because someone is a 'don', it doesn't mean they can't be 'insane'.
Sometimes these statistics make me wonder if i was actually in nigeria when i was there.
40%?

People most especially academicians tend to conjure magical stats these days and expect the public to accept them because they are "well read".
Dear Don, I don't believe your statistics, try harder next time

Ikengawo: just because someone is a 'don', it doesn't mean they can't be 'insane'.
Sometimes these statistics make me wonder if i was actually in nigeria when i was there.
40%?

Have you ever considered that most of Nigeria is made up of rural areas---- not the kinds of environments you might be used to seeing always. Now, try to imagine how those people live.

Maybe they feed on leaves. . .sir werey

KingOfThisnDat:

Have you ever considered that most of Nigeria is made up of rural areas---- not the kinds of environments you might be used to seeing always. Now, try to imagine how those people live.

In most of the rural area have been, food is never problem. Infact I think they eat better that people in the city cos they eat fresh and natural stuffs.
I personally believe people are just looking for recognition, strategically sourcing for more federal fud, international donor funds etc. All these info are baseless. They are just guess work.

KingOfThisnDat:

Have you ever considered that most of Nigeria is made up of rural areas---- not the kinds of environments you might be used to seeing always. Now, try to imagine how those people live.

spent my entire stay in Nigeria was in a rural area. 40% of the people aren't eating that mean out of 2 nigerians you see 1 has no food to eat and you believe this?

inaccurate stats... just say 5%

wonder on the earth

Ikengawo:
spent my entire stay in Nigeria was in a rural area. 40% of the people aren't eating that mean out of 2 nigerians you see 1 has no food to eat and you believe this?

If there is no food,there will be famine and people will die.how do we now correlate this lack of food with the rising population ?

This so called Don is on his own!!!

The Don dey harsh ....He wanted to say the President and his fat wife eats 40% of food meant for Nigerians

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First i don't believe the stat. Nigerian goverment arent good in accuracy,when it comes to stat.

Second,federal govt are already building silos however i wouldn't consider the project massive.

How can we achieve vision 202020 when its only a federal govt vision. No guideline for state and local govts. How many state and local govts are serious with agriculture. A sector that can generate as much revenue as oil. How many people eat oil but most of our daily struggles is just to put food on the table. Why not invest massively in such.

I love the termite analogy

Well, in as much as I believe the Don went over board with his 40% stat. I still believe the central theme of his message should not be lost on us.
Massive construction of Silos for grains and other food storage facilities is germane for our future economic growth. Same way we need to have massive underground storage of refined petroleum products.
We can't keep wasting our resources and even spending the future of our kids today.
We can learn a big lesson from the Ant's philosophy.

Where is kobojunkie ? She likes the kind of story.

If 40% doesn't have access then gov should build more access roads.

This man made valid points, its just for the federal govt to pick the neccesary points and make use of them.
The 40% is far too much. Btw,if this man doesnt make it seem high, how do u expect it to generate neccesary interest.

BIG LIE.....U SEE PPL DONATING 700 CARS, WIZKID AND OTHERS BUYING HOUSES WORTH MILLIONS OF NAIRA AND
WHERE U ARE WRITING 40% LACK ACCESS TO FOOD....BIG LIE BIG LIE....NO FOOD FOR LAZY MAN

KingOfThisnDat:

Have you ever considered that most of Nigeria is made up of rural areas---- not the kinds of environments you might be used to seeing always. Now, try to imagine how those people live.

That is actually what makes the statistics false. The rural areas dont ever lack food. Nigeria has a lot of issues but access to food is not really one of them, especially in the rural areas. The don is just sensationalizing the issue.

I find it funny when people come out with statistics like these because I know they didnt do any research. They just sit at home in front of their laptops and churn out diabolical figures. Very bad!

The don said 40% of nigerians lacked ADEQUATE access to food, lets learn to read properly.
Personally to me thats an underestimation, I will rather put it at 70%. The worst hit are children(age 1-9yrs) and the elderly. Undernutrition is a serious problem in our society and it reflects in our children's below par growth curve and delayed physical developmental milestone. Also the recurrent infectious illnesses common among infants and aged depicts poor immunity which points to poor nutrition.
Pregnant women are also victims, she has to eat more than enough both for herself and the child. In most developing countries this is a challenge. Poor nutrition is one of the cause of high maternal mortality in countries like nigeria.
Of course we all eat, at least 1ce a day but so long as food is a luxurious necessity, then undernutrition will remain a burden in Nigeria. That's what the don is saying.

^POOR U

[size=18pt]at least weed is cheap and in abundance.i love this country[/size]

toluene12: The don said 40% of nigerians lacked ADEQUATE access to food, lets learn to read properly.
Personally to me thats an underestimation, I will rather put it at 70%. The worst hit are children(age 1-9yrs) and the elderly. Undernutrition is a serious problem in our society and it reflects in our children's below par growth curve and delayed physical developmental milestone. Also the recurrent infectious illnesses common among infants and aged depicts poor immunity which points to poor nutrition.
Pregnant women are also victims, she has to eat more than enough both for herself and the child. In most developing countries this is a challenge. Poor nutrition is one of the cause of high maternal mortality in countries like nigeria.
Of course we all eat, at least 1ce a day but so long as food is a luxurious necessity, then undernutrition will remain a burden in Nigeria. That's what the don is saying.

You are as wrong as the don. There is no lack of adequate access to food. If you want to argue about the quality of food, then that is another discussion. What Nigerians lack is access to basic infrastructure not access to foods. Basic health care, pipe borne water, education, roads, etc. The number of people that lack access to food is small. Most Nigerian still live in the rural areas and in the rural areas, food is not a problem at all.

Ikengawo:
spent my entire stay in Nigeria was in a rural area. 40% of the people aren't eating that mean out of 2 nigerians you see 1 has no food to eat and you believe this?

Bruv, where is the rural area in Nigeria that you spent your entire stay?

You really don't understand the challenges in Nigeria.

KingOfThisnDat:

Have you ever considered that most of Nigeria is made up of rural areas---- not the kinds of environments you might be used to seeing always. Now, try to imagine how those people live.

Contrary to what you think urban dwellers are more vulnerable to food unavailability. Because most villagers are engaged in subsistence farming. They farm to feed themselves first and sell any extra harvest they get. They may lack basic infrastructural amenities like good roads, hospitals and schools when compared to the urban areas, But food is never their problem. There is a more likelyhood that the 40% who lack food come from the cities. Because as a result of low income and inability to farm for themselves, they have little access to staple foods such as meat, fish, plantain, yam e.t.c from the food markets who get most their goods from the village subsistence farmers. A very good example is living in the city and working in a state ministry and earning the minimum wage of 18k monthly and at the same time having a wife/husband and four kids.. .......You have no access to farmland so you will have to buy food from the market and at the same time pay school fess, house rent, cloth yourself and provide the basic need for you and your family with your little income. There is a strong chance that you and your kids will be malnourished in such a circumstance. can you see what I mean?

thelastPope:

You are as wrong as the don. There is no lack of adequate access to food. If you want to argue about the quality of food, then that is another discussion. What Nigerians lack is access to basic infrastructure not access to foods. Basic health care, pipe borne water, education, roads, etc. The number of people that lack access to food is small. Most Nigerian still live in the rural areas and in the rural areas, food is not a problem at all.

check out the word undernutrition.
Malnutrition is not all about poor food quality.

It takes a brain that is working below 70% to come with such statistics. Access to imported food or local food? Some people sit in the office and come up with outrageous and ridiculous estimate.

toluene12:
check out the word undernutrition.
Malnutrition is not all about poor food quality.

Have you ever seen pictures from Nigeria like the one you see from Ethiopia? Nigerians in rural areas eat good food. They lack other amenities. The food in the rural areas are standard foods that an average American will pay good money to eat. Vegetables, fruits, bush meat in abundance. Where some people even lack access to foods are in the urban areas.

It is those kind of statistics that attract grant from foreign land.What do you think those NGO chop?

thelastPope:

Have you ever seen pictures from Nigeria like the one you see from Ethiopia? Nigerians in rural areas eat good food. They lack other amenities. The food in the rural areas are standard foods that an average American will pay good money to eat. Vegetables, fruits, bush meat in abundance. Where some people even lack access to foods are in the urban areas.

i know thats the problem, we believe malnutrition is synonymous with war, somalia, dafur, refugee camps, an hunger infested child with a pathetic figure and a vulture nearby to prey on the child ones he's abandoned.
Undernutrition has grades, the one highlighted above is the rare extreme. And besides, poverty and food insecurity not war are the commonest cause undernutrition worldwide.
Now, concerning rural areas. I agree they seldom have issues with food quantity, but how about quality? Inadequacy of the latter is poor meal and such people will definitely will have problems with kwashiokor and marasmus. And that to me is inadequate access to food.
Besides those bush meat, snails and cat fish(eja odo) dont come cheap u know, they are quite expensive.