As a matter of Urgency, Nigeria has to Learn how to Preserve its food!
‘Food Security,’ ‘Life Sustainability,’ ‘Best Farming Practices, ’ ‘Agricultural Revolution,’ etc. All of the above are some of the terms you should have gotten used to if you at least paid a little attention to what the Nigerian government has been up to.
Well, in recent times, despite the ravaging insecurity in the northeast, with the latest being the killing of over 140 farmers and fishermen, there has been another scourge that has ravaged the Nigerian Agricultural sector for decades now, and it is the issue of food preservation.
Boko Haram, Unknown Gunmen, Fulani Herdsmen, etc, have continued to disrupt peak farming seasons, destroy farmlands, and wickedly cut short the lives of farmers and kidnapped many others in different scenarios in different parts of the country, thus affecting crop yield and subsequently food scarcity.
Additionally, Nigeria has struggled to preserve its food for decades. The very obvious staples such as Tomatoes, Onions, Yams, Cassava, Maize, Wheat, and Plantains sometimes disappear on Nigerian plates, not because they are out of season but because the country lacks the facilities to keep them preserved and available all year round.
This article's topic ends with an exclamation mark (!) because now, more than ever, the ability to better preserve our food is needed. With the current state of the economy and the increasing cost of living, our government must find ways to keep our staples available so we do not have to experience the occasional price fluctuations in the market.
Food Preservation is Underrated In Nigeria
Food production in Nigeria is affected by so many factors. Pre-Production factors include a lack of knowledge of the best farming practices, Poor storage options, Insecurity, Supply chain and logistics issues, and poor post-harvest surplus preservation.
Amidst these problems, the core issue of food preservation is rarely discussed. In plain terms, it refers to the physical and economic access the populace has to good quality and nutritious food. In Nigeria, research targeted at rural households has shown that utilizing food preservation practices as simple as Sun-drying improved food security and availability by up to 38%.
The implication of this is that low-income homes in the country could feed better and live better just by deciding to preserve a fraction of the post-harvest surplus. Globally, the situation is far more dire. More efforts are dedicated to studying food production and consumption patterns to see how they affect health and the environment.
According to the Food Industry and Skill Initiative, a global platform dedicated to ensuring food safety, optimum nutrition, and sustainability, the 2019 FAO’s report revealed that over $400 Billion worth of food is lost after harvest, just before it gets to the stores. Do you know what this means?
The UNEP’s food report revealed that the stores and the customers waste at least 17% of the food that gets to the stores. It went further by saying the humongous amount of food wasted yearly on a global scale could be enough to feed about 1.26 Billion people. If you consider Africa in this context, the reality staring us in the face concerning food wastage is scary.
The average Nigerian situation is dire and requires urgent attention. With a current inflation rate of 34.80%, a very insane one that beats a 3-decade record, these are serious periods. As Nigerians, we already spend so much money on food, and it's been said that at least 70% of our income is spent on food, so why are we not seriously facing the idea of effectively preserving the food we produce as a solution?
What are the facts on the Ground?
This article already sounds so formal, and if you have managed to read to this level, ‘Omo you sef don try.’ But to be honest, if so many factors like insecurity, supply chain and logistical problems, seasonal price fluctuations, and even the periodical issue of plant diseases already affect our agricultural outputs a great deal, why are we not looking at Preserving what we can get as a way to keep more food options in season, and help ourselves eat better food.
I have been thinking recently about how many food choices we consume as Nigerians are borne out of the need to survive. A lot of options are disappearing on our tables. If they are not packaged, we cannot access much food. For example, Yam is expensive in Lagos partly due to high transport costs and a lack of preservation techniques to keep it in season.
There are so many examples like that—wheat, Maize, Wheat, Millet, Soybean, and the famed Tomato. Tomatoes have always been an essential part of our diet, but as Nigerians, we always expect a tomato shortage at certain periods of the year. A shortage occurs due to a lack of facilities for preservation and, sometimes, the Tomato Blight disease, which farmers so dread. Imagine transporting tonnes stacked in baskets and on top of each other in a truck over hundreds of kilometers. All that heat!
Dangote was said to have closed down a tomato paste factory due to inconsistencies with the supply of tomatoes. At some point, it was rumoured that to start up production, the company bought so much tomatoes, it caused a scarcity in the market. A lack of management of the country’s post-harvest surplus showing.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria has the most food waste per person in Africa. At least 40% of its annual food production is wasted. The implication is that the amount of food wasted in Nigeria has been said to be sufficient to feed at least 40 Million people. If we can create innovative solutions to at least 50% of this challenge, we can be confident that up to 20 million people will have access to quality food with higher nutritional yields.
Imagine what could be? By intentionally preserving the food we produce, food prices can crash in the markets, and Nigerians can have both physical and economic access to nutritious meals. Then, with a young and actively growing workforce, Nigeria takes care of the most vibrant part of its population and, subsequently, its economy. The possibilities are endless, but who will bell the cat?
Certain problems need ‘Boots on the ground,’ Intermediaries, etc., to help facilitate crucial processes and ensure success. At best, Technology can be used to identify high-yield plantations and aggregate farmers and provide them with the capacity to preserve their harvest produce better. However, we also cannot put a cap on technology and its ability to create solutions and make processes easier. However, there are obvious and immediate interventions.
So, What do we do?
I know in many of my writings that I am always so critical of the government, and this is because, with the current state of Nigeria, the government should be solely responsible for laying the foundational framework upon which many things can be done.
Nigerians get the short end of the stick as far as this is concerned. We can talk about small-scale methods of food preservation, such as sun-drying, salting, refrigeration, etc. However, the large-scale food preservation required to stem food wastage solidly cannot be possible without an effective and efficient government intervention.
Private interests in the country’s agricultural sector are involved in this, but the government's cooperation is highly essential. Suppose we are to make gains in this aspect and ensure more Nigerians access better quality and nutritious meals. In that case, the government must be interested in ensuring that our post-harvest surplus and farm outputs are better managed and retained for consumption for a longer period.
Farmers are out here trying to survive, battling with produce spoilage, which is because the large-scale farm settlements we had in the past are no longer functioning. Many of our rural households are so deep into subsistence farming because there is little support to go bigger.
The President submitted the 2025 national budget of 46 Trillion Naira for approval by the legislative houses; less than 2% of this budget was earmarked for agricultural initiatives. This is a far cry from the agreement by African countries to earmark at least 10% of their budgets to boost food production.
The implication is that the Agric sector is of little priority to the government, and this should not be encouraged. Out of this already meager percentage most were allotted for redundant projects, as observers noticed a repetition of projects and the lip service paid to improve the capacity of the country’s agricultural institutes.
We need to do better to achieve food security and better life sustainability. The inflation level keeps climbing, as it is the same with the cost of living. These tough periods require intentional innovation, and championing initiatives to preserve our farm outputs better is one way to address these obvious challenges. A well-fed nation is a happy one.
