Obi to African Leaders: Invest in Agriculture to Curb Hunger, Insecurity

• Peter Obi urges African leaders to invest in agriculture to combat hunger and insecurity, emphasizing its importance for economic stability
• Obi highlights Nigeria’s potential in food production, comparing its rice output to Bangladesh, and calls for significant agricultural investments

Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, has urged African leaders to prioritize investment in agriculture as a key strategy for combating hunger and insecurity across the continent.

Speaking as a panellist at an international conference on food security in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday, Obi highlighted the importance of focusing on agriculture to address the prevailing hunger crisis in Africa. He argued that reducing reliance on food imports could help stabilize exchange rates and reduce inflationary pressures caused by high food costs.

“Today, I was one of the panellists at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali,” Obi wrote on his X handle. “At the session, I reiterated my long-held position that food insecurity in Africa is intrinsically linked to human insecurity.”

Using Nigeria as an example, Obi emphasized that solving food insecurity is critical to achieving overall security. “By investing in agriculture and food-related productivity, Nigeria will not only be addressing the hunger crisis but will also create huge job opportunities for the teeming unemployed population, especially the youths in their productive age,” he stated.

Obi stressed the need to explore the untapped potential in food production in Nigeria and other African countries. He compared Nigeria’s rice production to Bangladesh’s, noting, “Bangladesh, with approximately 148,000 square kilometers, less than 1/6th of Nigeria’s about 923,768 square kilometers, produces 35-40 million tonnes of rice annually. In contrast, Nigeria produces only 3-4 million tonnes of rice, roughly 10% of Bangladesh’s rice production.”

He highlighted this disparity as a reflection of Africa’s agricultural sector’s untapped potential and underscored the need for more investment. “Food insecurity, if addressed properly in Africa, can be a catalyst for enhancing human security and promoting overall development,” Obi added.

He concluded that significant investments in agriculture and food systems could help create jobs, reduce poverty, and tackle hunger across Africa.