HSS 123

FOOD AND SOCIETY

Lecturer: AJIOLA, F. O
Office: Department of History & Strategic Studies (RM 426)
Office Hours: Monday- Wednesdays, 10-4Pm
Email Address: [email protected]
Lecture RM: (RM G101)
Course Hours: Wednesday, 11-1:00
Lecture Duration 2 Hours

Government and Non Government Roles In Food Security In Nigeria

Since Nigeria’s attainment of independence in 1960, several political administrations,
including international institutions have introduced different policies and programmes to
boost or undermined food production and distribution in Nigeria. A number of these policies
will form the basis of our discussion in this module. The objective is to understand the impact
of government and non government organizations as regards food security in Nigeria and the
international system.

Colonial Agricultural System

The establishment of British colonial administration resulted in the introduction of the

cash crop economy to Nigeria. In line with the British colonial policy of providing raw
materials for the industries of the metropolitan power, Nigeria witnessed the reduction of the
importance of the indigenous food production economic system which made each family self-
sufficient in food and other socio-economic needs. In 1921, a unified Department of
Agriculture was formed in Nigeria after the amalgamation of the South and the North. The
major policy of the Central Department of Agriculture was to increase the production of
export crops for the British market which was ready to absorb it for its industrial growth.
Extension activities were therefore directed towards increasing efficiency in crop production
and marketing. Regulations were made to set and enforce standards in export crop
production.
Unfortunately, this had adverse effect on agricultural activities and food production in
many parts of Nigeria. Attention was not given to food crops like maize, yam, melon and
others that were grown for local consumption. Among the major cash crops introduced and
emphasized by the British colonialist were, Tobacco, cocoa, palm kernel, groundnut, cotton,
rubber, coffee etc. This had a great effect as it resulted to food shortages for the indigenous
people. This was because the concentration given to cash crops left production of food crops
in the hands of fewer peasant households who mostly worked on small plots of land with low
inefficient technologies.
Post colonial Agricultural System

The same system was adopted the Nigerian government at independence. The 1962-
1968 development plan was Nigeria’s first national plan. Among several objectives, it
emphasized the introduction of more modern agricultural methods through farm settlements,
co-operative (nucleus) plantations, supply of improved farm implements (e.g. hydraulic hand
presses for oil palm processing) and a greatly expanded agricultural extension service. The
1970-1986 period, which coincided with intensive petroleum exploitation, was marked by
policies’ lack of interest in supporting agriculture. The strong decline in domestic agricultural
production reduced the country to growing dependency on imported foodstuffs. In the wake
of the major food crisis in the country after the civil war, some programmes were introduced
to manage the situation

National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP)

National Accelerated Food Production Programmes (NAFPP) was an agricultural

extension programme initiated in 1972 by the Federal Department of Agriculture during
General Yakubu Gowon’s regime. The programme focused on brining about a significant
increase in the production of maize cassava rice and wheat in the northern states through
subsistent production within a short period of time. The programme was designed to spread
to other states in the country after the pilot stage that was established in Anambra, Imo,
Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Benue, Plateau and Kano States. Mini-kit, production-kit and mass
adoption phases were the three phases of the programme. Lapses found in the programme
included:
 Farmers sponsored (financially) the last two phases of the programme. This
discouraged some farmers from participating in the programme.
 Farmers who could not form co-operative were left out in the programme since the
programme relied on disbursement of credits and farm inputs through co-operative
societies.
  Abrupt/premature withdrawal of funding by the federal government due to the
introduction of another programme termed operation feed the Nation.
 Demonstration trails were done on some selected farmers. Plots by the research and
extension personnel which did not give a true/ good representation of the outcome of
the technology or programme in other words it lacked farmers participation.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (ADP)

ADP formerly known as integrated Agricultural Development projects (ADP) was
earlier established in 1974 in the North East, North West and North Central States as pilot
schemes. The earlier impressive result of the programme led to its replication in 1989 to the
entire then nineteen states of the Federation. This approach to agricultural and rural
development was based on collaborative efforts and tripartite arrangement of the Federal
Government, State Government and World Bank. Today this has grown to become the major
agricultural and rural development programme existing in states in Nigeria.
The important features of the programme are reliance on the small scale farmers as
the main people that will bring about increase in food production and the feedback
information mechanism which is a decentralized decision making process that allows farm
families/households to give their responses to an innovation/technology, incentive subsidies
etc. according to their judgment.
The objectives of the programme are to bring about solution to the decrease found in
agricultural productivity by sustaining domestic food supply, though massive infusion of
World Bank funds, the ADPs were established to provide extension services, technical input
support and rural infrastructure to the farmers/dwellers. Some problems that occurred in the
course of executing the projects were, shortage of fund due to decline in oil prices that started
in 1982 which led to delays in recruiting competent staff and provision or purchasing of
materials and facilities needed for the projects take off.
This made implementation much slower than scheduled. Secondly, ADP emphasizes
more on modern/high input technology like sole cropping while majority of the farmers
practiced mixed/relay cropping there was also untimeliness of subsidized input supply for the
programme. Present problems of ADP include. High frequency of labour mobility limited
involvement of input agencies dwindling funding policies and counterpart funding intricacies
of technology transfer etc.2
OPERATION FEED THE NATIONAL (OFN)
 This programme evolved under the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976. The
programme was launched in order to bring about increased food production in the entire
nation through the active involvement and participation of everybody in every discipline
thereby making every person to be capable of partly or wholly feeding him or herself under
this programme every available piece of land in the urban, sub-urban and rural areas were
meant to be planted while government provided inputs and subsidies (like agrochemicals,
fertilizers improved variety of seed/seedlings day olds chicks machetes sickle, hoes etc)
freely it government establishments. Individuals received these inputs at a subsidized rate.
The failure of the programme can be attributed to:
 Farming was done on any available piece of land irrespective of its suitability for
agriculture.
 Majority of the participants in the programme had little or no farming background and
there was no formal or informal preparatory teaching or advice given to them on how
to manage their farms.
 They practiced mono-cropping instead of mixed/relay cropping and relied on hired
labour to carry out their farming activities which resulted in high input and low
output/yield per unit of land.
 Preference was given to government establishments and individuals in
authority/administration over the poor farmers (real producer of food) in terms of
input supply.
 There was abundance of food in the market and less demand for the food because
many people produced part or almost whole food they consumed.
 There was incidence of endemic poultry diseases especially new castle disease that
wiped out the birds due to lack of quarantine and necessary routine vaccination.

River Basin Development Authorities

River Basin Development Decree was promulgated in 1976 to establish eleven River
Basin development Authorities (RBDAs). The initial aim was to boost economic potentials of
the existing water bodies particularly irrigation for agriculture and fishing with hydroelectric
power generation and domestic water supply as secondary objectives. The objective of the
programme was later extended to other areas most importantly to production and rural
infrastructural development. Problems found in the programme were that a number of the
authorities grew out of proportion and the operations of some suffered from intensive
political interference. Also substantial public funds were wasted to streamline sizes and
functions of RBDAs through the disposal of their non-water assets.3

Green Evolution (GR)

Green Revolution (GR) was a programme inaugurated by Sheu Shagari in April 1980.
The programme aimed at increasing production of food and raw materials in order to ensure
food security and self sufficiency in basic staples. Secondly, it aspired to boost production of
livestock and fish in order to meet home and export needs and crops. The federal government
ensured the success of the programme by providing agrochemicals, improved seeds/seedling,
irrigation system, machine (mechanization), credit facilities, improved marketing and
favourable pricing policy for the agricultural products. The programme did not achieve its
objective of increasing food supply because there was decay in execution of most of the
projects involved in the programme. There were projects for which huge sums of money were
spent.

Directorate For Food Roads And Rural Infrastructure (DFRI)

The Directorate was initiated in Nigeria in January 1986 under General Ibrahim in
Nigeria in January 1986 under General Ibrahim Babaginda’s Administration. It was a kind of
home grown social dimensions of adjustment that was embarked upon in most Sub-Saharan
African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The
programme was designed to improve the quality of life (improvement in nutrition, housing,
health, employment, road, water, industrialization etc) and standard/level of living of the rural
dwells through the use of many resources that exist in the rural areas and mass participation
of the rural people. The poor quality of infrastructures provided by the directorate probably
due to embezzlement of fund made the impact of the programme almost insignificant.
However, the directorate has been criticized in the past for lack of proper focus and
programme accountability.4

Better Life Programme (BLP) For Rural Women

Better Life Programme (BLP) or rural women was founded in Nigeria by Mrs.
Maryam Babangida (wife of the then head of state of Nigeria) in 1987. The programme
aimed at stimulating and motivating rural women towards achieving better living standards
and sensitizing the rest of Nigerians to their promises others include to raise consciousness
about their rights, the availability of opportunities and facilities, their social, political and
economic responsibilities, encourage recreation and enrich family life and inoculate the spirit
of self development particularly in the fields of education, business arts, craft and
agricultural.5

National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA)

This was established in 1992. The policy aimed at giving strategic public support for
land development, assisting and promoting better uses of Nigeria’s rural land and their
resources, boosting profitable employment opportunities for rural dwellers, raising the
level/standard of living of rural people, large thing and assisting in achieving food security
through self reliance and sufficiency.6

Family Support Programme (FSP)/ Family Advancement Programme (FEAP).

Family support programme (FSP) was initiated in 1994 while feap was initiated in
1996 by Late General Abacha and his wife Maryam. These programmes culminated in the
increase of the ministry of women’s affairs and social welfare. The Programme stressed on
areas like health, education, women in development, agriculture, child welfare and youth
development, disability. Income generation as well as facilitating the provision of shelter for
the less privileged in the Society from ongoing housing programme of government.7

National Fadama Development Project (NFDP)

The First National Fadama Development Project (NFDP) was designed in the early
1990s to promote simple low-cost improved irrigation technology under World Bank
Financing. The main objective of NEDP was to sustainably increase the incomes of the
Fadama users through expansion of farm and non-farm activities with high value. Added
output. The programme covered twelve states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombo, Imo, Kaduna,
Kebbi, Lagos, Niger Ogun, Oyo, Taraba including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) NFDP
adopted community driven development (CDD) approach is in line with the polices and
development strategies for Nigeria which emphasize poverty reduction, private sector
leadership and beneficiary participation.8
At the inception of the new democratic administration in May 1999 and shortly before
then, several institutional changes were made in order to realize the sector’s objectives and in
line with its belief that agriculture and food security are sin-quo-non for improved economic
recovery1. These include the relocation of the department of co-operatives division of the
ministry of agriculture. The transfer of the Department of Rural Development from the
Ministry of Water Resources to the Ministry of Agriculture (all before 1999).

The scrapping of the erstwhile National Agricultural Land Development Authority

(NALDA) and the merging of its functions with the rural development department. The
scrapping of the Federal Agricultural Co-ordinating Unit (FACU) and the setting up of
projects co-ordinating Unit (PCU) and later transformed into the National Food Reserve
Agency (NFRA). Stream-lining of institutions for agricultural credit delivery with the
emergency of the Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development bank
(NACRDB) from the merger of the Erstwhile Nigerian Agricultural and co-operative Bank
(NACB) and the peoples Bank and the Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP).
New institutions were also evowing to enable the Nigerian agricultural sector respond to the
imperatives of the emerging global economic order.

The new agricultural policy has s a clear statement of objectives. The policy seeks to
attain self sustaining growth in all the subsectors necessary for the overall socio-economic
development of the country as well socio-economic development of the country as well as the
improvement in the quality of life of Nigerians. This objective reflects the current policy
recognition of agriculture as a vital sector under the poverty reduction programme.2

The government also pursued the following specific objectives:

 Attainment of self-sufficiency in basic food commodities with particular reference to

those which consume considerable shares of Nigeria’s foreign exchange and for
which the country has comparative advantage in local production.
 Increase in production and processing of exportable commodities with a view to
increasing their foreign exchange earnings.
 Modernization of agricultural production, processing storage and distribution through
the infusion of improved technologies and management so that agriculture can be
more responsive to the demands of other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
 Creation of more agricultural and rural employment opportunities to increase income
of farmers and rural dwellers and productively absorb an increasing labour force in
the nation.3
Agriculture And Food Security Under The Olusegun Obasanjo Administration (1999-
2007)
In its desire to restore the sector to its pre-oil boom era pre-eminence, the Obasanjo
administration anchored its poverty alleviation programme on the revival of agriculture. A
major platform for the realization of this comprehensive cocktail of programmes dubbed
‘Presidential initiatives on Agriculture (PIA). Beginning from 2002, the initiatives were
designed to promote growth in the production, processing, marketing, utilization etc of the
various target crops, livestock and fisheries, and thus boost national food security. The
initiatives which focused on cassava rubber, maize, tropical fruits, cotton, rice, vegetable oil,
cocoa, life stock and fisheries commenced at various times beginning from 2002.

Presidential Initiative on Increased Rice Production And Export Programme (IRPEP)

The policy of self-sufficiency in rice production and generation of surplus for export
by 2005-2007, informed the setting up of the presidential committee on increased rice
production and export in 2003. At inauguration, three sub-committees were established to
address the four key areas of importance to rice production and marketing, namely,
production inputs and crop protection, irrigation and land development; and processing and
marketing. The overall objective of the initiative on increased rice production and export was
to attain self-sufficiency in the local production of rice in the short term (2005) and to
produce for export in the medium-term.5

The following strategies were adopted to achieve accelerated production and attain
self-sufficiency and export:

 Increase in output per unit area (intensification).

 Increase in area under production (expansion)
 Rehabilitation of abandoned rice production schemes and increased investment in
irrigation infrastructure.
 Adoption of new and proven technologies e.g soil and water management.
 Created awareness on provision, processing, marketing e.t.c
 Provision of farmer empowerment and incentives e.g credit subsides, extension e.t.c
  Use of appropriate agronomic practice and timelines of operations such as planting of
improved seeds, application of fertilizers, agro-chemicals Correct spacing. Timely
planting and harvesting etc.
 Popularization of rice processing machines fabricated in the country
 Organizing workshops and seminars for rice farmers on good quality and proper
practices for the production and processing of rice to meet international standards; and
 Strengthening of existing and formation of new rice farmers/miller co-operative
associations to enable them access loans from banks to purchase necessary production
and processing inputs and machinery.6

Presidential Initiative On Tropical Fruits Production Programme (ITFPP)

The major fruits of economic importance produced in Nigeria include mango,
pineapple, avocado pear, banana and plantain though not a major exporting country, Nigeria
is rated as one of the seven largest producers of tropical fruits in the world. the varied
ecologies and climate conditions suitable for the production of a wide range of tropical and
sub-tropical fruits confers on Nigeria an immense comparative advantage and potential to
lead the world in tropical fruits production and trade. In realization of this potential and in
line with the government policy thrust of diversifying the economy a consultative forum of
stakeholders was held at the state House, Abuja in 2005.

A major outcome of the forum was the setting up of the National Implementation
committee on the presidential initiative on tropical fruits production. The overall objective of
the presidential initiative on tropical fruits production programme in Nigeria is to boost
production to meet increasing demand for fresh fruits and processed products generate
employment and enhance rural income and living standards. As well as earn foreign
exchange through export trade. The specific objectives of the initiative are:

 Increased fruits production through the rehabilitation of declining orchards/plantations

and expansion of hectares new plantings;
 Improve yields through the provision of quality planting materials of recommended
varieties,
  Address major constraints in the fruits industry, including wastage istorage and
preservation, and
 Expansion of market through the provision of critical infrastructure and exploration of
overseas markets.7

Presidential Initiative On Increased Cassava Production And Export Programme
(ICPEP)
Cassava is a major staple food in Nigeria and serves as raw materials for the
pharmaceutical, confectionery, ethanol, textile beverage and packaging industries. In 1982.
Nigeria ranked as the sixth largest producer in the world with an output of 6.8 Million tones.
In recognition of the socio-economic importance of cassava, the Government inaugurated the
presidential committee on cassava production and export in August 2002, with the mandate to
ensure that Nigeria earned and 5.4 Billion annually from the cassava chips starch etc. the
blueprint for the programme was presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which
consequently approved a take-off grant of N5.4 Million for the execution of the programme
in 2003.

The project took off in 2004. The objectives of the programme were to:
 Ensure food security
 Ensure poverty alleviation
 Promote import substitution through the local production of value-added products like
starch, glucose, syrup etc.
 Promote rural industrialization; and
 Ensure increased income to farmers8

Agriculture And Food Security Under The Umaru Yar’adua Administration (2007-
2011)
The Yar’adua administration spelt out a 7-point agenda of which food security was an
integral part. The National Food Security Programme (NFSP) was the agriculture phase of
the 7 point agenda of the Yar’adua administration.9 The Vision of the program was ensure
sustainable access, availability and affordability of quality food to all Nigerians and for
Nigeria to become a significant net provider of food to the global community. It set targets
for crops, livestock and fisheries and also brought the value chain approach to the fore. The
Development plan for the food sector had definite implementation timeliness classified as;
short-term activities, (2008-2010); medium-term activities (2010-2015); and long term
activities (2015-2020).10

Agriculture And Food Security Under The Goodluck Jonathan Administration (2011 –
2015)

The president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration launched a rigorous campaign on

agriculture and the attainment of food security with the introduction of the Agricultural
Transformation agenda. The Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the administration was
launched in 2011. It is aimed at a proactive change in the practice of agriculture and its
perception in the country in several ways. For the first time in post-civil war, agriculture is
being treated as a purely business oriented economy activity rather than a development
programme. In the past, government interventions in agriculture has been largely dominated
by access to credit, robust extension effort and provision of basic farm inputs, but this has
steadily and drastically reduced with the end of world bank financing of the state Agricultural
development programme.
It is still believed that agriculture is the life wire of Nigeria economy, contributing
between 30 – 40% to the gross domestic product and providing employment for the vast
majority of the populace especially those in the rural area. However, a policy from work for
increasing the strength to release its vast potential food security was elusive.11
However, the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) with its core critical
objectives of a value-chain approach and its linkages with key changes in food and
agricultural policies had great impact since its inception Government is poised at enhancing
efficiency through completion and creation of an enabling environment for a private sector
led survival and monetization of Nigeria agriculture. The development of agricultural key
value-chains such as provision and availability of improved inputs, increased productivity
and production establishing a well established staple crop processing zone, reduce post,
harvest losses as well as improve linkages with the markets are all centered on increased
productivity.12

Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS)

 The Growth Enhancement support scheme (GESS) is one of the many critical
components of the Agricultural transformation Agenda. It was designed for the specific
purpose of providing affordable agricultural inputs like fertilizer and hybrid seeds to farmers
in order to increase their yield per hectare and make it comparable to world standard. It is an
difficulties usually associated with the distribution of fertilizer and hybrid seeds in the
country in the past, there were complains of diversion, exorbitant cost and adulteration of
various inputs, which ultimately led to low productivity, increased poverty, unemployment
and lack of interest in farming.
The scheme approach is to target beneficiaries through the use of electronic system
and by encouraging the engagement of the private sector in the distribution and delivery of
fertilizer and other critical inputs directly to the farmers. With strong determination to break
away from the rot of the past and the infective, inefficient and corruption ridden distribution
of fertilizer famer, the president mandated the Federal Ministry Agriculture and Rural
Development to come up with the mechanism that will be farmers friendly and get fertilizer
and other input s directly to the real farmers. However, the thrust of the scheme is to
enhance the capacity of the farmers who could not afford a bag of fertilizer and seedlings.13

The scheme has the following objectives;

 To remove the usual complexities associated with fertilizer distribution.
 To encourage critical actors in the fertilizer value chain to work together to improve
productivity.
 To enhance farmers income and promote food security.
 To shit provision of subsidized fertilizer away from the general public to genuine
small scale farmers.

Another programme introduced under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in

order to provide credit to Nigeria formers was the Nigeria incentive-based Risk Sharing
System for agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). It was a joint initiative programme by the
government to mitigate against the impact of natural disaster on losses of agricultural
investments by facilitating low-interest credit to farmers through commercial banks and the
liberalization of the insurance sector to increase famers schemes in the country. The
government also moved to establish marketing corporations to coordinate the production,
investments grade and standards, market price stabilization e.t.c for all value chains in
Nigeria.14

International Institutions and Food Security in Nigeria

Several international organizations over the past five decades have helped to foster
international relations among states through food exchange and various agricultural
initiatives. This has helped in achieving food security at the national, regional and
international levels, as well as perpetuating a structure of dependency and uneven economic
power relations on the side of the developing economies. Some of the major international
institutions that continues to play important roles in the production, importation and exports
of food resources from Africa—especially Nigeria include, the United Nations and its arm
organ the Food and Agricultural Organization, World Bank, International Monetary Fund,
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD, World Health Organization among others.

The United Nations supported rural and national agriculture systems and programmes in a
number of ways in Nigeria. The UN created the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and tagged it ‘‘that all may feed’’ The FAO has been a long standing collaborator with the
Federal Government of Nigeria for the purpose of agricultural development. This global
institution implemented series of projects in partnership with communities, national and other
stake holders in different regions of the country.

The intervention of the FAO in Nigeria is basically centered on the National Programme on
Food Security (NPFS) which represents the focal point of several administrations’
agricultural objectives. This has taken the form of Regular Field Development Programme,
Regional Regular Field Programme, Supporting of River Basin Projects, Trust Funds and
Tele Food Projects. Some of the major FAO’s programmes initiated for food security in
Nigeria over the years include the following:

 United Nations Development Programmes ( UNDP)--- dedicated to fighting

poverty to bring about sustainable human development; promoting
entrepreneurship- business management, training for farmers, provision of safety
nets in Ondo and Kaduna states.
  United Nations Children’s Fund- Catering for the rights of children; Nutrition and
Early Childhood Care and food security. This initiative also focused on dietary,
issues, food accessibility at house hold level, nutrition, immunization as well as
HIV/AIDS.
 United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) Population and
development strategies in relations to food security, reproductive health,
especially safety of mothers and children, adolescent reproductive health, youth
reproductive health and maternal morbidity were also important to the UN.
 UNHOR- Protection and relief for the refugees
 UNODC- providing leadership in the international struggle against illicit drugs
 UNIFEN- promoting women empowerment and gender equality in relation to
food production, distribution and consumption.
 United Nations International Labour Organization—promoting workers right and
welfare, including their fundamental principles and rights at work; ensuring equal
employment opportunities for men and women; social protection; social dialogue;
Development of Cooperatives and Trainings of workers in the agro related
industries.
 UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization)—
Enabling the Human mind for peaceful life; Science programme for environment,
agriculture/ technology, biosphere project- conservation; wild life and indigenous
agro technology.
 UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Organization)- promoting agro industrial
efficiency, job creation and environmental sustainability. This scheme focuses on
the industrial sector- poverty reduction through productive agro industrial food
production.
 WMO (World Meteorological Organization) The United Nations under this
scheme collaborated with Nigeria Meteorological Agency, support hydrological
services and weather forecast.

UNAIDS- Fighting the scourge of HIV/AIDS with concern for agricultural labor supply.
Apart from the United Nations’ food and agricultural programmes, the Nigeria’s food sector
has benefitted from several bilateral and multilateral agencies. USAID (United States
Agency for Agricultural Development)—Responsible for most non military foreign aid of the
United States Government; extending assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying
to escape poverty and engaging in democratic reforms. The Major programmes of USAID in
Nigeria aimed at maximization of agriculture for global markets, revenue generation for key
enterprises, enabling a reformed- open economic framework for macroeconomic stability.
Some of the food sustainability initiatives developed through multilateral agencies in Nigeria
include, EU- Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (STWSSP), (Water
Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP), Water Aid UK and Water Aid
Nigeria, Cross River State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Integrated Rural Water
Supply and Sanitation Project in Cross River and Ebonyi States.
Towards the close of the twentieth century, the World Bank in Nigeria supported a number of
agricultural initiatives. Some of the major programmes funded by the World Bank include-
the Second National Fadama Development Project, Third National Fadama Development
Project (FADAMA II); Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Programme
(LEEMP); Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme; Avian Influenza and
African Stockpile Programme for commercial agriculture.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was is created to eradicating
rural poverty in the developing countries. IFAD enhanced food production and distribution
across national borders by working closely with rural agricultural committees, governments,
donors, non government organizations and many other partners. Through low interest rates
loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and
projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. The Common Fund
worked closely with International Commodity Boards (ICBs) to improve the agricultural
commodity export sector in member countries. The ICBs’ activities in Nigeria in the aspect
of cassava value chain projects and smallholder rubber project precipitated surplus food for
domestic consumption.

In conclusion, the module explains the strategic importance of food and food security to the
Nigerian government in historical perspective. It also shows the role played by several
international institutions such as the United Nations, Food and Agricultural Organization,
United Nations Industrial Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development,
World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on promoting
international economic relations through increased agricultural productivity for international
food security.