•Bandits
Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have called on the government at all levels to join forces to tackle insecurity and the effects of climate change to mitigate food shortage in Nigeria in 2026 as already predicted by global bodies.
Recall that on Tuesday the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the growing instability across northern Nigeria, including the surge in attacks, was driving hunger to levels never seen before, reports Sunday Independent.
The warning followed the release of the latest Cadre Harmonisé, a regional food security analysis that classifies the severity of hunger, which found that nearly 35 million people were projected to face severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, the highest number recorded in Nigeria.
The WFP said the attacks by insurgent groups in Nigeria have intensified throughout 2025.
“Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, reportedly carried out its first attack in Nigeria last month.
“Meanwhile, the insurgent group, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) is said to be pursuing its expansion across the Sahel.
“Other recent incidents include the killing of a brigadier soldier in the northeast and attacks on public schools in the north, where several teachers and hundreds of schoolgirls remain missing,” the statement said.
David Stevenson, WFP Country Director and Representative in Nigeria, said: “Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress.
“If we can’t keep families fed and food insecurity at bay, growing desperation could fuel increased instability with insurgent groups exploiting hunger to expand their influence, creating a security threat that extends across West Africa and beyond.”
The WFP said Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade with rural farming communities the hardest hit.
“Nearly six million people in the north are projected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse during the 2026 lean season – June to August – in the conflict zones of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
“This includes some 15,000 people in Borno State who are expected to confront catastrophic hunger (Phase 5, famine-like conditions).
“Children are at greatest risk across Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, where malnutrition rates are highest.”
Speaking few days ago at the 2025 National Agricultural Show in Karu, Nasarawa State, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, President of Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), said the small holder farmers and small-scale producers were currently “groaning due to low prices of their produce and products, high prices of inputs, low output generally, insecurity and weak purchasing power of the Naira, making agribusiness suffer a serious setback among the majority of Nigerians.”
He said: “The resilience of the smallholder farmers is being stretched and government intervention to moderate prices of inputs and resuscitating the Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) and National Agricultural Reserve Agency (NAFRA) will be quite prudent at this point in order to ease the challenges in the national food system.”
Some of the stakeholders who spoke to our correspondent maintained that insecurity was driving catastrophic hunger in Nigeria.
An agricultural researcher who spoke anonymously, said many farmers across the country had abandoned their farmlands due to the worsening insecurity.
He maintained that insecurity and climate change were ravaging the agricultural value chain across the country.
For instance, bandits reportedly abducted four rice farmers in Bokungi village, Edu Local Government of Kwara, barely 24 hours after an attack on Eruku town in the State.
Bandits reportedly attacked the farmers while they were working on their farms.
According to reports, two farmers were initially abducted while packaging harvested rice, followed shortly by the kidnapping of two more from a neighbouring farm, bringing the total number of victims to four.
Sources described the attack as coordinated, with bandits invading the farms and firing sporadically before abducting the victims.
Similarly, it was widely reported that gunmen suspected to be bandits kidnapped about 24 farmers in Angwar Kawo, a suburb of Shiroro in Niger State on Thursday, last week.
Also, suspected Boko Haram terrorists reportedly abducted 12 female farmers in Mussa district, Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
It was gathered that the female farmers were abducted while returning from their farmlands around 5pm on Saturday, last week.
Confirming the incident in a telephone interview on Sunday, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Nahum Daso, said the command has launched an Investigation into the issue.
He said: “There was an abduction yesterday in Askira-Uba. 12 female farmers were abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists when they were coming back from the farm.”
The stakeholders also identified the nagging issue of climate change as another issue that fuels food insecurity and hunger.
According to a report by the Cheetahs Policy Institute, climate change poses severe risks to food security in Nigeria.
“This surge is driven by record inflation, ongoing conflict, and climate-related disasters.
Hassan Musa, Agribusiness entrepreneur, urged the government to recognise how climate change such as droughts, heat, and floods have exacerbated hunger and food insecurity in the country.
Musa, therefore, urged government at all levels to embrace climate-smart agriculture, infrastructure, irrigation facilities to ensure all- year-round farming.
The World Health Organisation also warned that climate change threatens clean air, safe water, nutritious food, and safe shelter in Nigeria.
Experts in the agricultural space have called on Nigerian farmers to embrace soilless farming, smart agriculture, and backyard farming.
They have asked the federal government and states to scale up agricultural mechanisation and promote the adoption of modern farming technology and practices.
They underscored the need for improved irrigation, drought resilience programmes, policy support from government and sustainable land management.
They posited that without immediate and sustained action, Nigeria’s food security crisis could get worsened, unless practical and genuine measures were initiated to halt the current hunger and food insecurity ravaging the country.
