By Elvis Eromosele
“An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.” This is a popular saying from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
Many times, these days, I feel like that old woman in the saying, especially when I see skits where food is wasted and there are too many of them now. I don’t find them funny. I can’t laugh. They offend my sensibility. Food don cost.
This rising food cost is called food inflation. Food
inflation refers to the rate at which food prices increase over a specific
period, typically measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food. This
metric indicates how much the cost of a standard basket of food items has
risen, impacting consumers’ purchasing power and overall cost of living.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, ”In
April 2024, the food inflation rate reached 40.53 per cent on a year-on-year
basis, marking a substantial increase of 15.92 percentage points from the 24.61
per cent recorded in April 2023.”
People across the length and
breadth of the country have adopted (and are adopting) various strategies to cope
with soaring food prices. It’s a picture that should worry anyone with a
conscience.
A simple scan of
households reveals that many families are shifting from more expensive food
items to cheaper, less nutritious alternatives. This often means reducing
protein intake and relying more on carbohydrates. This is inadvertently
compounding the nation’s protein deficiency woes.
Reports indicate that some
households are reducing the number of meals they consume daily. Instead of
three meals, many now eat just once or twice a day. Take a closer look at your
driver, security guards and other domestic staff today, do their necks appear
thinner?
Fortunately, community support
appears to be on the rise. This refers to informal community networks that play
a crucial role in augmenting family meals. It can be neighbours or extended
families sharing food and resources to provide a buffer against acute
shortages.
There is an increased reliance
on street food. Street food vendors, offering relatively affordable meals, have
become an essential part of daily sustenance for many urban poor. They are a
good reason many people are surviving. They provide a life-giving service.
Many people have equally
resorted to the time-honoured pattern of borrowing money or buying food on
credit from local vendors. While this ensures people can live to fight another
day, it equally perpetuates the cycle of debt.
It is time to mitigate the adverse effects of food
inflation. The government, the major driver of inflation through its policies,
must now take several urgent measures to help curb it and provide immediate and
long-term relief to Nigerians.
Let me start with my favourite theme, the government
must provide food subsidies. I believe that implementing subsidies for
essential food items and controlling prices can help make basic foods more
affordable. Subsidies on fertilizers and seeds can also reduce production costs
for farmers.
Two, it needs to urgently
strengthen food security programmes. This includes expanding food aid programmes
and school feeding schemes that can ensure that vulnerable populations,
particularly children, receive adequate nutrition.
Three, agricultural support
initiatives must be pursued relentlessly including security. There are several
states where farmers can’t go to farm because of fear of bandits and
kidnappers. The government must stop treating the security situation with kid gloves.
In line with the first point,
emergency relief funds should also be on the card. Establishing emergency
relief funds to support households in dire need can provide immediate financial
assistance to purchase food. The Lagos State Government, earlier in the year,
spoke of a mass resident feeding programme through local bukas. Who knows how
that initiative is progressing?
I’ll be the first to admit that
the government cannot possibly do everything by itself.
Private organisations also have
a vital, even if, complementary role to play in addressing the food crisis.
Companies can launch CSR
programmes focused on food distribution, nutritional education, and support for
local agriculture. They can, in addition, collaborate with non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) to fund and implement food relief projects to expand the
reach and impact of aid efforts.
The food inflation crisis is
real. The hunger in the land is pervasive. The government cannot afford to keep
paying lip service to the situation. Concrete action is required,
urgently.
While the government must take
the lead in implementing policy measures to stabilize food prices and support
agricultural production, private organisations can play a significant role in
providing immediate assistance and promoting sustainable solutions. By working
together, we can help mitigate the impact of food inflation on the most
vulnerable populations and ensure food security for all citizens.
*Eromosele,
a corporate communication professional and public affairs analyst, wrote
via: elviseroms@gmail.com
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