Influence of climate change on food security

On Thursday, April 10, Joseph Utsev, minister of water resources and sanitation, announced that some states would witness heavy flooding between April and November at the unveiling of the 2025 Annual Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency in Abuja.

Ahead of this, some of the states have commenced measures to manage the flooding expected to affect about 1,249 communities in 176 local governments across 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The measures include public enlightenment campaigns, dredging water channels, and relocating residents of communities on river banks and floodplains.

Specifically, the minister highlighted coastal and riverine flooding risks in the South-South geopolitical zone, including Lagos. The affected states include Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

The warning comes after Cameroon indicated it would release water from its Lagdo Dam following heavy rainfall in West and Central Africa. This release is expected to exacerbate flood risks in the affected Nigerian states.

As this flooding, heightened by the global warming phenomenon, pushes the rainy season beyond its due frame in Nigeria, concerns again arise about food security in the country.

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This is as farmlands are not spared from the devastation of the floods. Food production levels in Nigeria are already below demand. Nigeria relies on $10 billion of imports to meet its food and agricultural production shortfalls, mostly wheat, rice, poultry and fish.

Flooding is a cause for concern as it degrades the environment and destroys crops, farm settlements, livestock, and seedling stores. The spin-off effect then impacts the next planting season, leading to further food shortages, according to experts.

Livestock are killed or lose pastures, and inundated farmlands are unsuitable for cultivation. Depending on the type of sediment deposited on farmlands during floods, some can not be cultivated for a long time, creating a cycle of food scarcity and hunger, the experts indicate.

Fish farms are also impacted as floods wash away fish stock, leading to a loss of income for the farmers and a loss of stock to market.

The impact is also felt by subsistence and smallholder farmers who cultivate, process, and eat directly from their farms. They are the worst affected by flooding disasters, and experts say they lose their primary source of income while lacking the resources to purchase food in the market. This also sets off a cycle in which high costs mean farmers can’t buy seedlings, and this undermines their ability to produce in the following season.

Flooding can further damage infrastructure such as bridges and roads, cutting off physical access. This has many knock-on effects. For instance, farmers can’t access needed inputs like seeds or fertilisers and markets for their goods. In addition, there are supply chain disruptions, increased prices, and the destruction of farm produce and stored reserves.

A decline in agricultural productivity because of flooding affects the availability of food. Subsequent shortfalls in supply increase prices of food, making it inaccessible to a large section of Nigeria’s population. This renders the already vulnerable population in the country more so. The high prices and unavailability of preferred food choices can force consumers to limit their consumption and opt for less nutritious but more filling food, which has an impact on food utilisation.

Government needs to pay more attention to disasters such as flooding, which are rising as the years progress, on account of climate change. The response should come by way of food security policies and immediate actions to control flooding. A more comprehensive approach to addressing food insecurity is needed, and this must encompass flood prevention and mitigation.

Experts observe that food security programmes and policies currently focus on food availability by seeking to increase production while neglecting other areas, and that this is the approach in Nigeria, where production alone has formed the focus of food policies. They say the consideration of the role of flooding in food insecurity is a significant oversight that needs to be addressed.

Therefore, solutions to addressing the impact of climate change on food security in Nigeria should include adopting climate-smart agriculture practices like drought-resistant crops and water-efficient irrigation. Investing in sustainable infrastructure, like functional irrigation systems, and strengthening social safety nets are also vital. Moreover, promoting renewable energy, improving storage and distribution, and empowering farmers are important steps.

Essentially, climate-smart agriculture practices, such as the adoption of drought-resistant crop varieties to combat erratic rainfall patterns; the adoption of agroforestry techniques, such as integrating trees into farming systems to enhance soil fertility and carbon sequestration; and the introduction of conservation agriculture practices are also important.