4. Nigerian Government policies for food and nutrition security
There have been initiatives aimed at providing the necessary policy environment for addressing food insecurity in Nigeria, but they have been accompanied by inconsistency, poor targeting, a lack of commitment, and improper coordination.
Therefore, the various policies need to be re-energized. Some policies, such as export trade policies (e.g. encouragement of processed cassava export) and import trade policies (e.g. the recent reduction in tariffs and the lifting of import bans and the temporary abolition of duties on some agricultural products) are even leading to food insecurity.
Nigeria’s federal government has several policies and programmes in place to address agricultural production and food security. Generally, weaknesses in the programmes revolve around instability in approach and lack of long term political commitment. Therefore programmes are not sustainable. The Presidential initiative appears to have achieved more, prompted by directive from the top of Government.