JICA Handover of Agricultural Inputs to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security

Nigeria, which is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, placed restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and services in order to curtail the spread of the virus, and this affected agricultural activities. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by a sharp fall in oil price and decline in the value of the Naira has increased the price of import goods including most agricultural inputs. Small scale farmers are more vulnerable to the price hike of agricultural inputs.

Rice is a strategic crop for the achievement of national food security because of its importance as a major staple food in the country. Rice is cultivated in all parts of the country but the demand has not been met because of rapid population growth and urbanization. Based on the current population estimate of 200 million and a per capita consumption of 35kg, the demand for milled rice is 7 million metric tons while production is estimated at 6.5 million metric tons.

Therefore, in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on food security, on behalf of the Government of Japan, JICA provided agricultural inputs to 1,500 small scale rice farmers in nine (9) states through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and in collaboration with the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) at each target state.