Hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Nigeria have been attributed to the challenges of kidnapping and incessant clashes between farmers and herders.
Ekiti State chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Mr. Adebola Alagbada made the assertion in an exclusive interview with Radio Nigeria in Ado-Ekiti to commemorate this year’s World Food Day.
Mr. Alagbada said kidnapping and farmers-herders clashes had made many farmers to abandon their farmland, stressing that it would portend a great danger for food security if not checked.
The Ekiti state AFAN chairman emphasized that with over sixty percent of Ekiti residents engaging in crop farming, fishery and animal rearing, hunger should not be a threat, but farmers needed necessary assistance through loans, fertilizers and chemicals.
He noted that monthly allocation from the federation account could no longer sustain the economy of the state, hence the need for the state government to access various federal government’s agricultural intervention programs to drive away hunger as well as earn more revenues.
United Nations in 1945 earmarked October Sixteen as World Food Day to raise awareness for governments to ensure there is food for all.
The body in 2021 had stressed that forty percent of world’s population could not afford health diets due to insecurity, climate change as well as diseases, while the theme for this year’s World Food Day is “Leave no one behind”.
By Lanre Omotoso
