Sociology: Examining Food and Nutrition Security in Nigeria and Its Challenges

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
Introduction
Nigeria has been given considerable attention regarding the policy towards food and
nutrition security throughout the years. Achievements regarding the desired food and the
nutrition security outcomes however does not seem to match the emphasis regarding the
policies. The exacerbating of the food and the nutrition security situation is the proliferation
of the needs highlighting the sustainable development goals by the United Nations.
According to Omotesho et al., (2016) the 2030 agenda for the sustainable development that
has been adopted by the United Nations provides the blueprint for the prosperity and peace
for the people and the planet. Among the 17 sustainable development goals, this assignment
will focus on the Goal 2, targeting to end hunger, achieve food security and improved
nutrition for the promotion of sustainable agriculture. The essay argues with the fact weather
Nigeria is likely to end hunger by the year 2030 and ensure access to safe, nutritious and
sufficient food to all the people in the country.
Background Information
The country of Nigeria has historical record of the lower rate of nourishment and lack
of dietary energy supply and high rate of rural poverty and rural multidimensional poverty.
The vulnerability scores related to the shocks of the environment indicates that the country
has more pronounced exposure related to the environmental shocks as compared to the
average African country (Adebayo et al., 2016). The shortage of the food that are driven
mainly by the production and the consumption varies widely in the country.
Nigeria, one of the wealthiest and populous nation of Africa is one of the fastest
growing economy in the globe. Despite of these facts, the country remains in the list of mass
poverty and mal-nutritious country of the world. This is because more than 60% of the
country lives below the poverty line where the northern Nigeria suffers the globe’s third
highest level of the chronic under nutrition among the children.
Discussion
Historical factors

2SOCIOLOGY
The silent crisis in the country is generally the result of the lack of the access to safe
water and sanitation, increasing level of insecurity of food. The disruption of the fundamental
services resulting from the conflict and the poor knowledge of the health for the children and
the infants of the country.
The historical factor and the past events that have contributed to country-level hunger
and food insecurity majorly includes the poor implementation of the policies of the
government of the country in the economy. According to the research by Adepoju, Sanusi
and Toromade Adekunle (2018), the food situation in Nigeria is not the absence of food but
generally means lack of the implementation of the policies. The role of the government of
Nigeria in the form of dictatorship and kleptocracy are some of the further challenges that
hinders the access of the food and nutrition to the citizens of the country. According to the
economist, Amartya Sen, there has been no such thing as apolitical problem of the food. In
Nigeria, past events of the drought and naturally occurring events that triggers the condition
of famine has triggered to the rise in hunger, food shortage and discrimination among the
rural areas.
Cultural factors
Culture is one of the strongest determinants of the security of the food through its
influence regarding the consideration of the society for its acceptability for the consumption.
The factors related to the culture tends to affect the security of the food in the country of
discussion in various ways. These includes the factor of availability. According to the
research by Benson et al. (2017) culture shapes how the food is being produced and there has
been certain traditional combination of crops that offers agricultural complementarities
resulting high rate of local environment and risks. The efficiency of the system of the food
production furthermore hinders the availability of the nutritious and sufficient food which
results in post-harvest losses and food wastage. Access and choice, utilization of the
resources and the stability of the resources are some of the major factor contributing to the
restriction regarding the availability of food and nutrition to the people of Nigeria, thus
increasing the issues of the challenges and malnutrition. Besides these, gender, family roles
and the decision making power are some of the key cross cutting determinants that affect and
interact with the culture that affects the security of the food.
Structural factors

3SOCIOLOGY
Apart from the historical and the cultural factors that contribute to the hunger and the
food insecurity in the country of Nigeria, there lies some of the structural factors that
furthermore contributes to these factors of malnutrition and food insecurity (United Nations,
2019). These structural factors include the contribution of various social institutions in the
field of policy inconsistencies and corruption in Nigeria. Frequent changes on the policy and
the political institutions, the promises of the government of the country and the poor
performances of the agencies of the country are some of the major factors. The promises by
these political institutions regarding the implementation of the agricultural and the food
policies have seriously affected the production and the distribution of the food (Ayoola et al.,
2018). In the context of the Nigeria, each time a new government comes to the power, the
previous policies and the programmes related to the agriculture are being abandoned which
directly affects the rural population suffering from mal-nutrition and chronic hunger.
Performances of some of the past programs like the Green Revolution, the Operation Feed
the nation are some of the past consequences in Nigeria. Furthermore some of the institutions
which have contribute to the low agricultural and the foo productivity in Nigeria includes the
Lower river basin development Authorities, the National Agricultural and Land Development
Authority, Roads and Rural Infrastructure and more.