The World Bank’s current Food Security report has projected that seven states in the North-west and North-east will go through a crisis of food security levels in 2024.
The report stated that armed conflicts and insecurity and armed were reducing the standards of living across the region, pointing out that Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara states are most at risk.
Beyond Nigeria, the report stated that other countries in the West African region, such as Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger will face varying degrees of food insecurity.
“It is projected that most areas in West and Central Africa will remain Minimally food insecure (IPC Phase 1) until May 2024, with some being categorized as Stressed IPC 2. Nigeria (far north of Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara states) will be at Crisis food security levels (IPC Phase 3), mostly because of persistent insecurity and armed conflict and deteriorating livelihoods,” it said.
It added that areas in Northeastern states like Abadam, Bama, Guzamala, Marte will face emergency food security levels as a result of limited household food stock and access to market and humanitarian aid.
The report also stated that more than 63.2% of low-income countries experienced inflation levels surpassing 5%, marking a 1.3%-point increase compared to the previous food update on January 17, 2023, adding that in lower-middle-income countries, 73.9% saw inflation levels exceeding 5%, while 48% of upper-middle-income countries maintained similar percentages as the last update, with no changes recorded.
The World Bank stated that in high-income countries, over 44.4% reported food inflation levels surpassing 5%, marking a 1.9% decrease compared to the previous food update.
The report showed that in real terms, food price inflation outpaced overall inflation in 71% of the 165 countries where data was available.
The report further highlights the precarious situation many states in Nigeria find themselves in as food prices scale the roofs, saying the latest CPI report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts food inflation at over 33%.
