By Munachimso Obienyi
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the recent incidents of flooding in some states in Nigeria will worsen food insecurity and lead to further increase in food prices across the country.
Mai Farid, African Department, IMF gave this warning during the analytical corner on “Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa”
Highlighting the possible economic impact of floods in Benue, Kogi and Anambra states of Nigeria, Farid said:
“We are very cognizant of the challenge posed by flood of that magnitude and how it affected Nigeria in neighbouring countries. We also recognise Chad and Cameroon have also been hit. And absolutely, you’re totally right in terms of the supply of agricultural production, it is going to drop which will put even further pressure on prices. And in addition, the floods have affected some of the transportation networks which makes it even harder for food to transfer into the country or even out in any essence storage.”
Noting that Nigeria and other nations in sub-Saharan Africa are the most food insecure region, as well as the most vulnerable to climate change, but the least prepared to pay.
Farid stated that governments must invest in climate-resilient early warning system technology and infrastructure jn order to avert consequences of such disaster.
