Urbanization: A Threat to the Nigerian Food Security

A nations food security is the state of her citizens having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, safe and nutritious food. Thus, the major responsibility of the Nigerian institute of food security is to ensure the availability and accessibility of safe and nutritious foods in sufficient amount for Nigerians consumption. As good as the responsibilities of this institute may be, it is confronted by numerous potential threats which if not looked into may prevent Nigerians from enjoying its dividends. One major threat worth mentioning is Urbanization.The oxford advanced English dictionary defines urbanization as the movement of people from rural areas to urban centers. I.e, it is the population shift from our rural agricultural areas to urban centers. Agriculture was the backbone of the infant Nigeria and government at all levels were concerned with providing her citizens with the basic materials required to burst agricultural yield. In Benue state where majority of the food consumed in Nigeria is produced, competitions were organized where farmers from different places would bring their produce to compete with that of others and prizes were given to those with the biggest and good looking products. Eventually, Nigeria discovered crude oil and attention was shifted from agriculture to crude oil. Today, we live in a society were nothing is left for the farmer. To be a farmer Nowadys is to be Mr. Nobody in the society. As such, able Nigerian youths who though have no formal education but would have been very useful in helping Nigeria actualize her food security goals by bursting the rate of agricultural production leave their rural villages for urban centers in search of pastures greener. This leaves farming bussiness to the elderly who lack the strength to carry out agricultural activities on a commercial scale. Urbanization of these youth have reduced our production strength and subsistence agriculture has become the order of the day. Dreams of the Nigerian food security programme can only be actualized if production is done on a commercial scale. This calls for an urgent attention of the government to create packages that will reward a farmer and make the farming business Lucrative. The government can overcome this threat of urbanization by: 1-Bringing agricultural mechanisation to the farmers door step. 2-Providing the farmers with adequate chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers which improves the yield of crops. 3-Organizing annual agricultural harvest competiotions during which prizes will be given to farmers with the highest produce. This will motivate the farmers to improve their scale of production. 4-Establishing food processing industries; non-availability of food processing industries have limited the production of food in the country especially Benue State. It is disheartening that Benue state is the highest producer of fruits but have no fruit processing company established by the federal or state government. The rate of Tomatoes, mangoes, oranges, pepper and groundnut production have been limited in the state due to their frequent loss of value through decay. Establishing a processing company will add value to these produsts and the youth will be encouraged to embark on agricultural activities. Untill the government defines a fundamental approach to combat urbanization and other factors such as crops diseases and drought militating against food production, Nigeria will experience a chronic shortage of food come 2020. Atume Tyokase Gabriel is a Food Scientist. He writes from Makurdi, Benue state, Nigeria.

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