Across Nigeria, in spite of the advent of rainy season which led to heavy rainfall, the annual seasonal farming in northern Nigeria, stakeholders have raised alarm that biting hunger resulting from low crop yield is leading to mortality in the North, resulting in food insecurity in the region.
Lamenting the situation to newsmen, a father of five, ‘Malam’ Garba, (not his real name), from an Adamawa community, said he lost his first daughter, A’isha, as a result of hunger resulting from low crop yield.
At the burial ground, when Aisha body was about to be buried, Garba told mourners that he lost his daughter life as the result of hunger.
He narrated, “My family faced acute hunger for weeks, without having up to two meals in day. When Aisha discovered that our condition was getting worse, she decided to go on fasting daily just for her junior sibling to eat. She sacrificed her meals so that we could have something to eat before we slept. And sometimes she could not have the two meals, if she eats at sunset, when she breaks the fast, she could not have meal at the sunrise to begin another day. On Day 30 of her hunger fast, she started vomiting blood whenever she coughed. Sadly, we lost her after a few days”.
After the confession at the burial ground, people donated some money, while others promised to help Garba and his family and Aisha’s siblings to survive the hunger.
Since the advent of 2022 rainy season led to heavy rainfall, rivers overflowing their banks, and the spillage of water from dams in neighbouring Cameroon, which contributed to severe flooding in 31 out of the 36 Nigerian states.
According to satellite analysis conducted by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) between 13-17 October, up to 6,600,000 people are potentially exposed to flooding and over 30,000km of land was flooded across the country. Adamawa is among the most affected states with an estimated of 260,000 people affected by floods and around a 1,000kms of land submerged across the state was destroyed.
With these flooding incidents occurring, farmlands experienced low-yield, thereby creating humanitarian crisis.
Another respondent, Hauwa Muhammad, said, “Our children are in serious health condition due to the hunger. Our husbands only depend on fishing and the bank is full with long grass as they cannot fix their net and when it is dry season; the water keeps drying some places and we experience drought.
“Politicians and government agencies usually make promises, but none of the promises come to fruition”, she lamented.
