Nigeria: Secure access to land a critical factor in addressing zero hunger
By Chinyere Ogbonna – According to Food for Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report published earlier this year, despite progress made over the past decades, about seven hundred and sixty-seven million people globally have continued to live in extreme poverty, with half of them in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The majority of the world’s poor and hungry live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their survival. However, their livelihoods are often constrained by limited access to resources such as land, services, technologies, markets and economic opportunities, lowering their productivity and income.
As a matter of fact, land is fundamental to the lives of the poor rural people. It is the single most vital asset in most of rural Africa, yet, about 90 percent of them lack secure access to land. It is a source of food, shelter, income and social identity. Secure access to land reduces vulnerability to hunger and poverty. But for many of the world’s rural people in developing countries including Nigeria, access to land is becoming increasingly more difficult than ever.
“A representative of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos Chapter, Prince ……Adeyeye says secure access to land is critical to addressing hunger.” “Land is not affordable to an average farmer who makes up the rural poor. So, if government is serious about achieving zero hunger, it must collaborate with other state governments in the country to provide land for farmers. They must support farmers with funding, modern farm tools, storage facilities, quality seeds and improved seeds and farmers must also be honest enough to utilize the funds collected for agriculture into the purpose for which it was provided. To achieve hunger both government and the farmers themselves have roles to play”.
Fast population growth, increasing conflicts, civil insecurity and climate change aggravate the situation, as the poor are invariably the most vulnerable. “Effect of population growth and infrastructure development on agriculture cannot be over emphasised. Arable lands that should have been channelled into farming are used for building by highly placed people to accommodate the exploding population, and by so doing productivity is reduced and the rural poor suffer.”
In 2013, the African Union convened a high powered meeting on Reviewed Partnership for Unified Approach to End Hunger in Africa and signed a declaration to end hunger on the continent by 2025, by sustaining momentum behind the comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. The outcome of this meeting led to the 2014 Malabo declaration on Accelerated Growth and Transformation For Shared Prosperity and Improved livelihood among others. According to an Agriculturist, Mr. Kanayo Kali, the impact of the declaration in addressing the challenges posed by food insecurity, the impact has not been felt enough.
According to an International Fund for Agriculture (IMF) Publication- investing in Rural People, about One point three billion extremely poor people in the world are struggling to survive on one point two five ($1.25) dollars a day. About 70 percent, many women, live in the rural areas of developing countries. In rural societies, the poorest people often have weak or unprotected tenure rights. As a result, they risk losing the lands they depend on to more powerful people domestic, foreign or even members of their own families.
Women are particularly vulnerable because their land rights may be obtained through kinship relationships with men or marriage especially in the South-eastern part of the country. The founder Women in Agricultural Advancement and Sustainability Africa ( WAASA), Chitola Roberts says that if Nigeria musts achieve the fight against hunger, to it must dominate discourse and partner with other stakeholders within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
On his part, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Otumba Femi Oke says that farmers are faced with the challenge of insufficient land, lack of adequate funding, modern technology, improved seeds and other farm inputs to boost their production, generate income and improve their livelihoods. Recent estimates on security and nutrition reveal that the prevalence of under nourishment in Sub-Saharan Africa, rose from 20.8 percent in 2015 to 22.7 percent in 2016. In concrete terms, this amounts to about 224 million people who are undernourished, up from 200 million in 2015.
Ending hunger is both a moral and economic imperative with strategic converted efforts. It is a dream that is possible and achievable in the year 2030. It is therefore, important to keep up the momentum and redouble the current efforts in a coordinated, integrated and aligned approach to enhance food security and curb malnutrition.
