"Say No to Famine" - Addressing food and nutrition insecurity in North-East Nigeria

Start & End Date: 2018-2022

Country/Countries: Nigeria

Multilateral Institution(s) Involved: African Development Bank

Case Study: Available

Since 2009, Boko Haram violence has sparked in north-eastern Nigeria. The impact of the conflict on agriculture is estimated to be USD 3.7 billion. The conflict has devastated agricultural livelihoods in various ways including livestock losses; reduced access to fishing grounds; destruction of irrigation and farming facilities; and the collapse of extension services. Losses caused by Non-State Armed Group has resulted in high levies on transported produce, market and trade facilities (including fish markets) and reduced production due to mass displacement and limited access to markets. Looting and fear of attacks have prevented farmers from cultivating their fields, leading to reduced harvests, loss of productive assets and extremely reduced purchasing power. The conflict has transformed a dynamic and populated rural area, albeit largely marginalized, into a zone of displacement, hazards and food insecurity.

This project, entitled “Say No to Famine”- Addressing Food and Nutrition Insecurity in North-East Nigeria seeks to curb fragility aggravated by the Boko Haram insurgency. It’s part of ongoing Federal Government efforts toward North-East States’ Emergency Transition, Recovery and Peacebuilding, elaborated by the five-year programmatic “Buhari Plan” of 2016. The project will provide conflict-affected populations of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe with the means to resume agriculture-based and other environment-friendly livelihoods, thereby allowing them to progressively sustain their own food and nutritional needs. In doing so, the project will set the foundations for longer-term resilience building and sustainable economic and social development. The project is anchored on three key components: 1) Safety nets (through food and nutrition security), 2) Livelihoods (agriculture and infrastructure), and 3) Natural resource management and climate smart agriculture and capacity strengthening and augmentation. The project’s overarching objective is to provide conflict-affected populations with the means to resume agriculture-based and other environmental-friendly livelihoods, thereby allowing them to progressively sustain their own food and nutritional needs. The development objective is to promote agricultural and environmental-friendly livelihoods, while maintaining food and nutrition security among conflict affected populations of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, through a combination of productive support measures and social transfers.