Nigeria is facing one of its worst hunger crises, with 33 million people expected to struggle with food shortages in 2025—an increase of 7 million from this year—mainly due to economic difficulties, according to a report released on Friday by the government and the United Nations.
A twice-yearly study covering 26 states and the federal capital estimates that 33.1 million people will be food insecure by August next year.
A joint report by the Nigerian government and the United Nations shows that 33 million people could face hunger in 2025, which is 7 million more than this year.
The report says, “Nigeria is facing one of its worst hunger problems ever.” Several factors are causing this, but the main ones are tough economic times, very high inflation, record-high food prices, and very high transportation costs.”
In the Northern parts of the country, violence has badly hurt farming, causing many people to leave their homes and stop farming.
The surge in food prices across the country was exacerbated by recent reforms, which made the costs of farming and energy and transportation go up a lot.
In addition, recent heavy flooding has damaged about 1.6 million hectares of crops, mostly in the northern areas where food is grown. This could lead to a total loss of 1.1 million tonnes of maize, sorghum, and rice.
In response to the crisis, the Federal Government has announced that it will give N3 billion to help the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory deal with the effects of the disaster.
