Comprehensive Review of Growing Food Insecurity in Africa in Terms of Causes, Effects and Solutions: The Nigerian Example

This study examined the situation of food insecurity in Africa with special emphasis on Nigeria with a view to giving the picture of the trend with respect to causes, effects and possible solutions. The study employed secondary data sourced from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and subsequently compared the results with other previously conducted studies on food security status in Nigeria and few other African countries. Data for the trend of food security between 1990 and 2014 were sourced from FAO. The findings of this study combined with other previously conducted studies revealed that the food insecurity in Nigeria is not only becoming worrisome but frightening. According to the FAO three commonly employed indicators (prevalence of undernourishment, prevalence of food insecurity and number of undernourished people), it was observed that food insecurity in Nigeria continued to rise from 2009 according to the results of the annual survey till 2014. The implication of this is that if the trend is not halted as quickly as possible it is a time bomb that may pose grave security risks and danger to the country and Africa as a whole being the most populous black nation and it is almost certain that any destabilization suffered as a result of hunger in Nigeria is a destabilization of the entire sub-Saharan Africa region considering her enormous population and the strategic place she occupies in the economy of the region especially the western Africa. This paper made some far-reaching recommendations that could halt the trend if judiciously implemented.