World Food Day: FAO urges measures for food security amid rising inflation

As Nigeria grapples with soaring inflation rates, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, Qu Dongyu, has urged governments to prioritize water in policy and planning, as there can be no food security without water.

Dongyu gave the advice on Monday at the World Food Day 2023 ceremony, held at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, with the theme ‘Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind’.

“Innovative solutions need to be co-developed with partners, including the private sector. We also need to significantly increase investments in integrated water resources management and infrastructure.

“Countries need to produce more food with less water while restoring land and water systems, and at the same time ensure equitable access to water, and increased resilience to extreme weather events,” he said.

The Director-General outlined key actions required to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to water and food security.

These include strengthening partnerships, co-developing innovative solutions, increasing investments in integrated water resources management and infrastructure, producing more food with less water, and engaging the private sector as water stewards.

Meanwhile, recent figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis surged to 26.72 per cent in September, from the previous month’s rate of 25.80 per cent.

The rise in headline inflation is attributed to various factors, including increases in the prices of Food and non-alcoholic Beverages (13.84 per cent), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuel (4.47 per cent), Clothing and Footwear (2.04 per cent), Transport (1.74 per cent), and others.

The Food sub-index also witnessed a year-on-year increase of 30.64 per cent in September, fueled by escalating prices of essential items like Oil and fat, Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables, and more.

The rising inflation rates in Nigeria, particularly in essential food items, calls for urgent and concerted efforts to mitigate its impact on the availability and affordability of food for the population.