Nigeria’s hunger crisis is worsening at an alarming pace, prompting agricultural and social policy experts to call for urgent, innovation-driven reforms to rebuild the country’s fragile food systems.
This position was strongly emphasised yesterday at Agroween ’25: Food, Agriculture and Innovation Festival, organised by the Intergenerational Rescue Foundation (IRF) in collaboration with the Department of Social Work, University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Speaking at the event, the Chief Operating Officer of IRF, Mrs. Bimbola Aghahowa, said hunger has become one of Nigeria’s most troubling social challenges, with millions of families struggling to afford basic meals.
She warned against blaming parents for rising poverty, stressing that structural failures, governance gaps and systemic neglect are the true drivers of the crisis.
Aghahowa noted that 25.6 per cent of Nigerians, about 50 million people, experience hunger daily, far above the global average of 9.2 per cent.
She said Lagos records hunger levels of about 30 per cent; the Southwest, 20–25 per cent; the Southeast, 15–20 per cent; and the North, up to 50 per cent.
She highlighted IRF’s Food Not for Sale model, which frames food as a human right and promotes redistribution, community food pantries and collective responsibility.
In her keynote address, Professor Vide Adedayo of UNILAG’s Department of Geography described Nigeria as a global hunger hotspot, noting that food insecurity has risen steadily from 2018 to 2024.
She said the country’s food system suffers from low technology adoption, poor data management, heavy reliance on imports, climate pressures and weak policy coordination, adding that half of Nigeria’s food output is wasted annually due to poor storage and logistics.
Adedayo said innovation across the entire food chain is essential if Nigeria must meet the needs of an estimated 401 million citizens by 2050.
She advocated strengthening traditional methods such as agroforestry, crop rotation, composting and water harvesting with technology, and urged renewed alignment of existing agricultural policies.
She also called for a reform and relaunch of Operation Feed the Nation to address urban food insecurity.
Environmental expert and Chairman of the Lekki Urban Forest and Animal Shelter Initiative, Prof. Desmond Majekodunmi, linked the deepening hunger crisis to environmental degradation and climate disruptions.
He said depleted soils and human-induced ecological damage continue to weaken agricultural productivity and urged young Nigerians to embrace sustainable farming.
Head of the UNILAG Department of Social Work, Prof. Samuel Adejoh, described food insecurity as a major social welfare emergency requiring coordinated academic, community and policy action.
He stressed the need for universities to shift toward solution-oriented research that strengthens resilience and supports innovation.
Founder of Comtrade Group, Abiodun Oladapo, warned that escalating insecurity is crippling food production, noting the rise in kidnappings that leaves rural communities in fear and restricts farmers’ movement.
He said food prices have risen from under N2,000 to nearly N100,000 in four years without a proportional increase in farmers’ earnings.
A panelist, Adeyemi Adedayo, lamented the decline of practical agriculture in schools, arguing that hands-on training is essential for stimulating youth interest, boosting food production and equipping students with survival skills.
Furthermore, he called for curriculum reforms that prioritise practical farming, medicinal plants and problem-solving, urging universities to revive commercial agriculture.
