An AllAfrica.com article reports that state authorities and aid agencies in northern Nigeria are preparing to combat predicted food shortages. This follows poor and erratic rainfall in 2009 and predicted poor rainfall again this year. The Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warned that 12 million people across northern Nigeria could face a lack of basic commodities. The issue has been exacerbated by the plummeting price of livestock and rising grain costs.
Livestock prices were 50% lower in May 2010 than in May 2009, and the cost of millet was 25% higher leading to the possibility that some pastoral households will not be able to buy sufficient food to meet their daily needs. In response to the situation, Nigeria’s Ministry of Agriculture has stored 130,000mt of grain in an effort to stabilize food prices.
Alhasan Nuhu, deputy planning director of NEMA spoke about the level of preparation in northern Nigeria, acknowledging how the Nigerian government, in concert with international food aid agencies, “are on top of the situation.”
Posted by Hallam Lyall Grant.
