Discuss briefly four factors that cause food shortages in Nigeria
Explanation
Four factors that cause food shortages in Nigeria are:
(a) Poor storage and preservation facilities: (i) Most agricultural products are perishable. (ii) Lots of farm products are lost because of lack of storage facilities. (iii) Most produce are wasted due to poor storage. (iv) Technical know-how on food storage is inadequate or lacking.
(b) Poor transportation network: (i) Presence of bad roads prevent evacuation of produce to market and this leads to wastage
(ii) The number of vehicles are inadequate. (iii) There is high cost of transportation. (iv) Most farms are not linked by roads and this eventually leads to wastage of produce.
(c) Lack of finance or credit facilities: (i) Peasant farmers have no access to credit facilities to expand their farm-land, (ii) High interest rate charged by banks prevents borrowing by farmers. (iii) Farmers do not have the required collateral security to enable them secure loan for expansion. (iv) Poor finance results in the purchase of inferior farm inputs which result in food shortage.
(d) Poor harvesting and processing techniques: (i) Premature harvesting results in food shortages. (ii) Late harvesting also results in food shortages. (iii) Bad method of harvesting also causes food shortages. (iv) Lack of modern methods of food processing also causes food shortages.