COVID-19: Drop in Nigeria’s food production worries Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed worry over how COVID-19 has reduced food production in Nigeria.

It stated this on Friday in an update of its activities, adding that this and the drop in food import into the country had seen an increase in Nigeria’s malnourished children.

It quoted one of its nutritionists, Thomas Ndambu, as saying, “What we are seeing now is just the tip of an iceberg, and we are very concerned by the trend, especially in Maiduguri.  I am certain that when Nigerian Red Cross volunteers resume their community outreach, the numbers will surge.”

The report showed that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic put additional strain on the vulnerable communities in the North-East, where armed conflict is severely hampering agricultural production.

It also reported its Economic Security Programme Coordinator, Mwakiuna Muriungi, as saying, “Everywhere we work, the food prices have gone up; in some places, they doubled. It means that millions of people in the North-East of Nigeria do not have enough to eat.”

The ICRC noted that about two million people in the North-East were currently displaced and had no access to their agricultural land and production tools.

It lamented that in many areas of the Lake Chad region insecurity and movement restrictions had limited farmers ability to plant crops.