Food security in Subsaharan Africa With a concentration on Nigeria

Word Count: 1654

What is food security?

There are multiple definitions to what food security is in the modern world. Currently, the world food production could sustain every individual on earth. However, the accessbility are still greatly limited in many countries of the world. Generally food security can be defined as “ Availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices” The World Economic Summit (1974) or from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, 1984) defined food security as all individuals having access to sufficient and nutritious food to meet their needs and preferences for an active and healthy life. There are also four dimensions of food security that a country has to consider they are food availability, food access, food utilization, and food stability.

Article 1

Burke, Marshall, and David B. Lobell. “Satellite-Based Assessment of Yield Variation and Its Determinants in Smallholder African Systems.” PNAS , National Academy of Sciences, 28 Feb. 2017, www.pnas.org/content/114/9/2189.full.

The research brief from Stanford University focused on the integration of data science in the form of satellite imaging, and prediction models to supplement the flaws of traditional field methods of collecting and organizing data. These methods were used to investigate economic and agricultural characteristics in various African nations that remain at the forefront of poverty and starvation issues. In these countries, traditional ground surveys were costly and inconclusive. Therefore, by incorporating data science methods the researchers could gather Long-term measurement of yield gaps, Development of financial tools for farmers, Better targeting agricultural interventions, and Better evaluation of intervention impact.

In 2015, the United Nations identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with poverty and the elimination of hunger at the top of the priority list. Amartya Sen distinguished these issues as major sources of unfreedoms. “The world has unprecedented opulence and yet denies freedoms to vast numbers of people.” (Sen) If the basic need for living and survival were limited, then development is restricted as well. The research in this study focused on the enhancement of human abilities. Specifically, the examination of crop yield and agricultural interventions was carried out in an attempt the improve the health and living of the individuals.

In Kenya, small farmed are owned by individuals, and self-reports were used to collect yield data, which lacked both quality and quantity. Because of this, the data was often inaccurate and contains a large error margin. To remedy this, inexpensive satellite imagery was used to estimate crop yield. This provided significant advantages to the accuracy of the data in combination with ground severy that was much more expensive. Satellite imagery presented many benefits as well that were stated in the summary. Satellite imagery was also used to determine the economic status of different countries. Using Hi-def images roads, urban, and farmlands were marked by machine learning, which suggested the economic well-being of an area. From these data, it was able to predict the average household consumption and calculate wealth in the area.

The study aimed to decrease the large data gap that exists during economic development. The use of data science improves this by creating models that could potentially project/predict the future based on current data. To allocate aid and relief to the right place, to improve the livelihood of individuals are the two fundamental goals in the process of eliminating poverty. However, aid and support are only half of the equation. To escape poverty is only the first step in the human development track because what follows is the chance to be educated and improve the surrounding society. This way the country as a whole is on the path to obtaining true freedom.

Article 2

Apampa, Olatunji. “Food Security and the Climate Crisis: A Data-driven Analysis of the Nigerian Situation From 2011 to 2020.” ResearchGate, Feb. 2021, 10.13140/RG.2.2.28147.04640

The study focused on the application of data mining and machine learning algorithms on agricultural, climatic, and environmental datasets to further and deepen the understanding of how food security is affected by government policies, pollution, and human conflicts in Nigeria between 2011-2020. The researcher aimed to address the following three questions. First, “How does climate change, environmental degradation, pollution, and unresolved conflicts affect farming communities with implications for food security in Nigeria? Second, What are the empirical relationships between agricultural outputs, climate change, environmental degradation, pollution, and unresolved conflicts in farming communities in Nigeria? Third, What are the determinants and predictors for a sustainable food security measure in Nigeria?

Agricultural informatics had helped the study conclude that environmental degradations had a significant impact on the reduction of yields, depletion of farmlands, increased irrigation, and more pests. Therefore, greatly increase food insecurity. Furthermore, high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition can have consequences on the economy. In Nigeria, the economy has heavily relied on the oil and gas sector, but before the discovery of oil, agriculture had been the main sector. In recent years, there’s a gradual decline in funding for the agricultural sector, consequently greatly decreasing food production. Moreover, petroleum exploration and production had greatly increased the pollution of the environment. In Nigeria’s Niger Delta region the soils and sediments, water, ecosystems had been hugely affected by the hydrocarbon waste streams, consequently, it also impacted human health, degradation of communities, and socio-economic problems in the area. Some determinants the researcher identified were policy ineffectiveness, high cost of production, high exchange rate, and increase in population. Civil unrest and the Boko haram insurgent had also played a factor in food insecurity.

On the surface, food insecurity in Nigeria seems to be the result of the lack of funding and attention to the agriculture sector. That is true to an extent, but the underline problems reside in the governing systems. Nigeria has an abundant number of fertile agricultural land and ideal climates in combination with plentiful human resources. However, the government is riddled with pervasive corruption and poor policy implementations. These issues are deepened by the constant civil unrest across the country. It is interesting when viewing food insecurity issues in Nigeria from the lens of Amartya Sen. Nigeria has a federal governing system, which in sen’s definitions are much less likely to fall victim to hunger/famine. Therefore, what could be inferred is that only a fair democratic system without corruption has the potential of exerting protective power. Food insecurity has also brought economic unfreedoms in the form of unemployment, which has led many families further into poverty and becoming reliant on international aids.

Article 3

Osabohien, Romanus, et al. “Food Security, Institutional Framework and Technology: Examining the Nexus in Nigeria Using ARDL Approach.” Current Nutrition and Food Science, Bentham Science Publishers, Apr. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5907060/.

It is essential to improve and incorporate science and technology to increase agricultural output and reduce poverty, which in turn increase food security. In the paper, researchers analyzed how technology and investment in agriculture can improve food security in Nigeria using an econometric technique based on an Autoregressive Distribution Lag framework. Some indicators of food security they explored include dietary energy supply, average value of food production, and prevalence of food inadequacy. The findings revealed that oil exports greatly negatively contributed to the low funding and care to agriculture that resulted in a high level of food insecurity. To combat this, researchers concluded that an increase of arable lands proved to be most effective. Other methods to accomplish this are an active interaction between the government and farmers, active participation of the people on production issues, and policy planning, and protection policies for farmers under risks.

The article still aimed to tackle the first two SDGs proposed by the United Nations poverty and elimination of hunger. These two issues are positively related in most cases. Rural areas in many developing and developed countries face malnutrition on different levels. Food security is not only the concept of having food available to the people but also families and households have the ability to afford them. This is the case in Nigeria, which is one of the largest food exports in Africa. However, 70% of the people live under the poverty line. Poverty according to Sen is a pivotal issue and must be seen as the deprivation of basic capabilities, which influence other factors of age, disabilities, and illness.

Furthermore, the democratic processes of communication between the people and the government are clearly flawed in Nigeria. This socio-economic feature serves as the main reason behind people’s entitlement to food rather than the lack of food. The study used Folow’s technological change growth model as a framework for analyzing the need for technology in agricultural production, processing, and storage. The study presumes that technology input is directly and positively correlated with the agricultural output applied. By looking at a sub-sector as a model, factors were identified that played a role in the upward shift in food production other than technology. Factors such as savings, innovation systems, social protection… contributed to equitable growth and well-being of the people. Using a multi-econometric method the influence of trade liberalization on food production was modeled. The find was surprising in the sense that it encouraged more restrictions on the importation of food, price regulation, etc.

Article 4

Tomita, Andrew, et al. “Spatial Clustering of Food Insecurity and Its Association with Depression: a Geospatial Analysis of Nationally Representative South African Data, 2008–2015.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 13 Aug. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70647-1.

All studies and research in previous articles have focused on analyzing the causes and improvement that could be made for food insecurity in Subsaharan countries of Africa. The continent is riddled with many unfreedoms that hindered the process of human development. Many issues such as hunger, limited access to infrastructure, etc. all derive from citizens’ struggling to meet their basic needs, because of different determinants. In this study, rather than look at the cause, the researchers focused on the relationship between food insecurity and the association of developing depression in South Africa. Using different data processing methods, the results revealed there’s a “food security paradox” that exists where locations with ideal agricultural conditions experience inadequacy in food. They also found that people who endure malnutrition have a significantly higher chance of developing depression.

Multiple models and data collection methods were used to model and analyze the relationship between food security and depression. Data were extracted from the nationally-representative panel data from the South African National Income Dynamics Study and the food insecurity geographical cluster was mapped out using Kulloff spatial scan statistic in SaTScan. A linear regression model was used to identify that depression is significantly more likely to occur in food insecurity hotspots. Two models were used to reach this conclusion. Firstly, in the incident cohort model, the sample was depression-free at the start and placed in a food-insecure location. Secondly, the prevalence cohort model included all adults regardless of whether if they have depression. The result was that the incident cohort model observed a significantly higher likelihood of depression.

Citation APA

Apampa, Olatunji. “Food Security and the Climate Crisis: A Data-driven Analysis of the Nigerian Situation From 2011 to 2020.” ResearchGate, Feb. 2021, 10.13140/RG.2.2.28147.04640

Burke, Marshall, and David B. Lobell. “Satellite-Based Assessment of Yield Variation and Its Determinants in Smallholder African Systems.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 28 Feb. 2017, www.pnas.org/content/114/9/2189.full.