The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for $32 million (about N10.1billion) intervention for emergency support to assist farmers during May season farming in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.
Dominique Burgeon, the Director of FAO’s Emergency and Rehabilitation Division made the call in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Burgeon said that the food security situation in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin was drastically deteriorating due to conflict and instability in the area.
He said $232 million would be needed to secure food production and access to food for three million people in the worst-hit areas over the next three years.
According to him, the vast majority of the requested funds which is about 191 million dollars is designated for Nigeria, which is bearing the brunt of the crisis.
FAO, he said called for swift and decisive action from the international community to protect the livelihoods of millions of families dependent on farming, livestock and fishing for their food and livelihoods.
Burgeon said the next planting season starting in May was bleak, with scarcity of animal fodder and water points during the lean season.
“It is crucial that crop seeds, tools and livestock support reach families urgently to limit the scope of the deepening crisis that now involves four countries: Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
“Some 7.1 million people are now severely food insecure across the four countries.
“Among them are 515 000 children, who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition a condition which, if untreated can lead to permanent damage in a child’s development and even death,” he said.
He said that emergency farming assistance must go hand in hand with food assistance for it to be successful throughout the upcoming lean season.
Burgeon said FAO was collaborating with the World Food Programme to ensure vulnerable families, mainly
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and host communities received food assistance.
This, he said was to help them have agriculture-based livelihood support in the form of provision of seeds, tools and fertilizer.
“This way, they will be able to restore and protect their livelihoods and farming assets for ongoing food production,” he said.
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