Peak Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 3 (2), pp. 22-31, March, 2015 https://www.peakjournals.org/sub-journals-PJSSH.html ISSN 2331-5792 ©2015 Peak Journals

Review

Desertification in northern Nigeria: Causes and implications for national food security

MOHAMMED Ngozi Thelma

Accepted 11 March, 2015

The paper is on the causes and impacts of desertification on food security in Nigeria. Desertification is visible in eleven states in northern Nigeria and its effect is very glaring on the agricultural sector. Farmers have been deprived of farm lands by sand duns, inadequate water as most of the sources have shrank in volume, low income, etc. All these have negative impact on farming. Many farmers have abandoned the profession for other more lucrative activities to enable them meet their basic needs. A lot of national and international interventions have been made to ameliorate the condition. Despite these efforts, desertification persists. The paper reveals that desertification have exacerbated the problem of food security in these areas and in Nigeria in general. Government and other stakeholders should intensify efforts to combat this problem, improve poverty alleviating Programme, and plant economic trees in its reforestation efforts among others. Key words: Desertification, deforestation, food security. INTRODUCTION The environment is important to man’s existence, and he is dependent on it to make a livelihood and take care of his basic needs; but the environment is undergoing changes that have implications to man’s existence. Nigeria like some other countries of the world is experiencing various forms of environmental problems which range from oil spillage, flood, erosion, desertification among others.

Desertification is one of the most glaring of these environmental hazards and the phenomenon has affected some states in the northern part of Nigeria, but the impact has been more glaring since the famine of 1971-1973 in this part of the country. By location, Northern Nigeria is situated in the semi arid areas with average annual rainfall or less than 600 mm bordering on the Sahara desert (Folaji, 2007) which is considered as the hottest and longest desert in the world. The soil in this area face a lot of threat ranging from deforestation for domestic fuel, overgrazing by livestock and agricultural practices that fail to conserve soils such pollution from the improper use of agricultural pesticides, herbicides and chemical spills from both liquid and solid fertilizers.

Generally, desertification affects eleven (11) northern

states of Nigeria referred to as the frontline state, these include: Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi and Gombe. These states are agricultural producing areas and are affected by desert encroachment that is fast moving southwards. Desertification is attributed to loss of the lands biological productivity in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas (Cunningham and Saigo, 2001). The impact is significant in developing countries especially Africa which is the most affected because its economy is predominantly agrarian, rain fed and fundamentally dependent on the vagaries of weather (Bello et al., 2012). However, it has been difficult for Africans to take advantage of their environment because of the lack of adequate technology to convert negative aspects of their environment to best uses.

Being a global phenomenon, many of the affected countries ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) in 1994 which is important to the discourse on desertification. With the adoption of the Convention agreement, parties were expected to prepare and implement the National Action Programme (NAP) on desertification in their respective countries.

Department of Political Science and Defence Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria. E-mail: thellyj31@yahoo.com

Nigeria signed the Convention on 30 October 1994 and is among the over 180 countries that have ratified the CCD (National Action Plan, 2005). In Nigeria, the destruction of the environment and natural resources by desert encroachment have assumed increasing proportions and it is posing a serious threat to the nation’s economy, food security and employment which are some of the important objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Tercula (2015) submits that within the period of 15 years, 1960 to 1975; African countries in desert prone areas had suffered damages from desert encroachment and drought worth US$15 billion. He argued that the ground water level put at 10 m in the 1960’s has dropped to 150 m as at 2004, and has become impossible for some areas to get adequate water.

Okoli and Ifeakor (2014) is of the opinion that desertification poses a serious threat to Nigeria’s economy, food security and employment. He stated that dunes have covered large expanse of agricultural farm land, oasis, and ponds with negative implications on live stock production and food security.

Medugu (2009) also emphasized that a lot of policies and programmes have been implemented by government to fight desertification, yet the problem continues because there exist a gap in policy formulation and strategies in combating drought and desertification as the problem has been treated as a sectoral issue instead of an integrated one having relevance to other sectors.

Nigeria loses about 350,000 ha of land every year to desert encroachment (Tercula, 2015). Most of which are arable land that have for years been used for both agriculture and other economic uses. About 35 million people located in the eleven (11) frontline states of northern Nigeria and Nigerians in other parts of the country are facing threats of hunger as a result of extreme weather conditions (Odiogor, 2010). Farmers here have been constrained by inadequate rain fall, arable land as the dunes have covered a large expanse of agricultural farm land. The levels of food crops and livestock production in these areas have degenerated to be at low ebb and thus cannot meet their food requirements and in Nigeria in general, this is because the bulk of the grains and livestock produced in Nigeria are from these areas.

This problem is exacerbated by the inability to cope as a result of poverty and low technological development which affect the cropping capability of farmers. The population has been growing faster than food production, increasingly rising at 3.2% annually while food production is increasing at 1.5% annually (Mohammed, 2012), which demands an increased growth in food. Population growth has a direct relationship with the amount of food produced, and government has not been able to factor the amount of food produced with population growth. The increasing desert encroachment would greatly hamper food production, this goes to show that Nigeria is

Mohammed 23 producing below her consumption level, and contribution to total food output from these areas would not be significant enough. There is the need to produce more food to cater for the shortfall. The resultant effect of desertification is a frustration on farmers and the abandonment of farming for non-farm activities or even a drift to the urban centers.

Environmental threat thus becomes a colossal food security problem because its only option would be food importation, a proactive measure that is draining government budget. Nigerian agriculture is rain feed and is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with this agricultural productivity could decline. It could thus be stated that climate change impact has increased the threat of desertification which impact is glaring in agriculture and in turn food security.

In a bid to curb desertification and ensure food security, and national development the Nigerian government, formulated policies and programmes to tackle the problem of desertification. Some of which include Arid Zone Aforestation Project (AZAP) in 1977, the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDA) in 1987, Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) 1988 which later facilitated the establishment of the state Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) in the thirty six (36) states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) (Mohammed, 2012) the Great Green Wall Project, Legislative framework among others to curb desertification and provide a better livelihood for the people of the affected areas.

This paper examines food insecurity with reference to northern Nigeria, efforts to combat desertification, its impact on food security, challenges, conclusion and recommendations. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION Desertification Desertification is one of the most serious problems facing the northern Nigeria with dire economic consequences for the nation. Deserts are extremely dry areas with sparse vegetation. The word desert was derived from the Latin word desertus meaning abandoned (Lalley, 2013). Scholars have viewed this concept from diverse perspectives social, economic, cultural, among others and the concept has often been thought of as desert encroachment. Medugu (2009) defines the term as land degradation in arid, semi arid and sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activity. A dynamic process observed in dry and fragile ecosystems affecting ground water resources, animal and plants, soil human settlements and their activities.

Desertification could also be seen as a process whereby the productivity of arid or semi arid land falls by

10% or more. It is explained that mild desertification is about 10-25% drop in productivity, serious desertification is 25-50% drop and very serious desertification is a drop of 50% or more which may lead to serious gullies and sand dunes (Emordi, 2013).

Dregne (1986) explained that desertification is a land degradation process that involves a continuum of change from slight to very severe degradation of the plant and soil resources and is due to man’s activities. He clarified the concept as the improvement of terrestrial ecosystems under the impact of man, the process of deterioration in these ecosystems that can be measured by reduced productivity of desirable plants, undesirable alteration in the biomass and the diversity of the micro and macro fauna and flora, accelerated soil deterioration and increased hazards for human occupancy. Barrow (1999) stated that desertification is a process whereby the ecosystem losses its capacity to maintain and repair itself.

Deforestation generally is referred to as de-vegetation and this could be caused by either human or natural conditions, usually from erosion and excessive flooding leading to gullies. Deforestation has been traced to economic incentives that make forest conversion appear more profitable than forest conservation. Many important forest functions have no markets and hence no economic value that is readily apparent to the forest owners or the communities that rely on it for their wellbeing (Pearce and Markandya, 2001). According to the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change (2007) secretarial, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence agriculture is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of deforestation and fuel wood removal make up 5% of deforestation. The benefits of forest as biodiversity reserves are only beneficial to the developed world. The developing world does not make any significant economic benefit from it. In the case of Nigeria for instance where terrorists have pitched their camps in forest reserves (Sambisa among others) to perpetuate insurgent activities against the Nigerian government is a total disadvantage.

Furthermore, the developing countries have argued that the developed world especially America and early modern Europe cut down their forest centuries ago and timbers were used for steam ships, construction and other uses. The west benefited from deforestation and it would be wrong to deny the developing countries these benefits, but David and Arild (1999) argued that industrial logging is not a contributor to global deforestation.

In the same light, Butler and Lawrence (2014) submitted that for some decades now, deforestation have mainly been driven by subsistence activities and government sponsored development projects like transmigration in Indonesia, Latin America, India, Java among others. They also argued that in recent times, most cases of deforestation are caused by industrial

Peak J. Soc. Sci. Humanit. 24 factors, which includes extractive industries, large scale cattle ranching and extensive agriculture.

It could be argued also that the affected developing countries could transform the disadvantages of forestation to economic benefits by taking advantage of the current global drive for renewable energy by planting Jatropha tree, gum Arabic and other economic trees which can grow on these areas to enhance their livelihood for the better. With the increasing global consumption of fuel and industrial emission, the developed countries seek alternative fuel supply with fewer hazards to health. The OECD countries consume 50% of total fuel, developing countries 26%, the United States alone 19% of global fuel consumption. For individual nations, China is the second largest consumer (15%); (UNFCCC, 2007). The best use of the desert affected areas should be made to enhance the economic and food security of the people in the area. In the area of study, the factors causing and exacerbating desertification could be drought, migration from drier areas, and increase in population in the areas and over grazing The concept of food security Food Security is a global phenomenon; its impact is felt at individual, household, state, regional and international level. The issue of food security came to the fore in the 1970s with the Rome World Food Conference of 1974. The eradication of hunger is a common objective of all the countries of the international community especially of the developed countries and others in a position to help (United Nations, 1975). There are many definitions of food security which is an indication of the diverse view to the discourse.

The World Bank (2014) identified three pillars underpinning food security. These are food availability, food accessibility, and food utilization. This means that a nation whose food production level is unable to satisfy these three criteria is said to be food insecure. Supporting this assertion, Maxwell (in Nana-Sinkam, 1995) stated that a country and its people are food secured when their food system operates in such a way as to remove the fear that there will not be enough to eat. He further stressed that food security requires that the poor and vulnerable have secure access to the food they want.

The definition that is widely accepted is that of the world food summit of 1996 that defines food security as ''food that is available at all times, to which all persons have means or access, that is nutritionally adequate in terms of quality, quantity and variety and it is acceptable within the given culture'' (www.fao.org, 2013).

Okolo (2004) posits that food security requires fulfilling certain conditions related to the supply, demand and household level utilization of food. He explains that

people at all times must have food, inadequate quantity, and quality and that for Nigeria to be food secure, residents must have food all year round and in every part of the country. Access to food is when people can afford needed food. In Nigeria, it is assumed that food is in abundance but access to required food is a problem because of inflation, food price instability, and low wages to income earners have made many Nigerian susceptible to food insecurity.

Availability, affordability and utilization are elements of food security. It should be noted that availability of food alone does not explain the attainment of food security in a given country. Food can be available in a country because of effective agricultural policy, good harvest in a particular year or massive food import or food aid (Davies, 2009). But overdependence on food import especially for developing countries usually have negative effects on the budget and may discourage food pro- duction in the recipient country. Food could be used as a tool for international politics by the donor countries, thus any country that depends solely on food aid or import for short and long term solution remains food insecure.

Utilization of food depends on proper food storage to guard against spoilage, appropriate handling to avoid disease transmission, and proper preparation to ensure nutritiously balanced meal (Fao, 2009), access to clean water, health and sanitation, which people need for a good wellbeing. Poor nutritional wellbeing occurs because of inadequate access to food supply, poor purchasing power and high food prices. Poor food utilization could also be characterized by the consumption of food with health hazards such as some chemicals, or pesticides applied to crops. Many developing countries, especially Africa are not food secured; a lot of them depend on food imports to meet the food requirement of their populace.

Haile (2005) identified a number of factors that are responsible for food insecurity in Africa such as low agricultural policies, poor infrastructure, and lack of appropriate marketing strategy, high transport cost, extreme weather, HIV/AIDS, weak financial support system, political conflicts, and poverty. Some others include the rate of deforestation over grazing, land use malpractice, the increasing use of land for economic development, and felling wood for construction.

Also, wars and armed conflicts, both within and between countries is a central factor contributing to the vulnerability of people to food insecurity in Africa. Conflict and food insecurity are inextricably linked, each triggering and reinforcing the other. Some people living in food insecure communities feel they have been marginalized by central government, at the same time conflict itself almost always intensify hunger, as it drives people from their homes and disrupt marketing and distribution systems.

Another cause of food insecurity in Africa according to Hamad (2009) is the adverse weather condition like

Mohammed 25 drought which is attributed to global warming. As Hamad contends, large parts of African continent are arid or semi arid, rainfall is low, unreliable and unevenly distributed. Thus faced with this unstable environment, people in regions like these have developed specific coping strategies, farmers for example, stagger their crop planting when the situation is exceptionally bad, and they resort to hunting and gathering.

Food insecurity in developing countries is also associated to trade liberalisation. The primacy of economic policies often imposed on developing countries by international financial institutions like World Bank, IMF and WTO is arguably the major cause of food insecurity in poor countries. Virtually all countries in the developing world have been affected.

In the area under study, food security has been characterized by the following; inability of the farmers to acquire farm inputs due to the lack of purchasing power, scarcity of rain fall, general public poverty, high inflation in other products, food price instability, poor harvest and transport network and generally low income by the majority of the people. The problems of food insecurity is so glaring that farmers have been demoralized and some have abandoned the profession for other nonfarm activities, thus promoting poverty and hunger. GOVERNMENT EFFORTS IN CURBING DESERTIFICATION IN NIGERIA Nigeria is losing 2,168 sq.km of land range and crop land to desertification in northern Nigeria (Olasupo, 2014) and needs combined efforts of states and other stakeholders to contain further encroachment. Efforts to curb desertification have been on for a long time because of the devastating effect on the environment and society at large. During the colonial era, an Anglo-French Commission in 1937 investigated desertification reports in the Northern part of Nigeria and directed the emirate to embark on tree planting exercise to stop the encroachment (Medugu, 2009). After independence, government and other stakeholders like the World Bank, the United Nations – and others have directed efforts in human and material resources to combat the situation and in turn ameliorate the living conditions of the people in these areas. The Nigerian government in preparing strategies to combat desertification and ensure sustainable development in the National Action Plan (NAP) identified several sectoral policies as important in this regard. These include, National Policy on Environment, National Agricultural Policy, National Forestry Policy, National Conservation Policy (National Action Plan to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the effect of Drought in Nigeria, 2005) among others. These policies are effective for the implementation of NAP plans. They are to help in public awareness, environmental education of the populace, poverty

alleviation, forest conservation, protection of land for agricultural activities, and provision of alternative sources of energy.

The National Agricultural Policy Plans in combating drought and desertification include: 1. Protection of agricultural lands against drought, desertification, soil erosion and flood. 2. Protection and Conservation of Forests. 3. Promotion of alternative sources of energy. 4. Integrated Water Resources Management. 5. Promotion of appropriate farming system. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture is the implementing ministry and the activities of NAP are in harmony with the National Agricultural Policy (National Action Plan to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the effect of Drought in Nigeria, 2005).

The Nigerian government signed the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and other initiatives which included the establishment of a National Coordinating Committee on Desertification Control (NCCDC) which is the national body for the implementation of the Convention in Nigeria. And the establishment of FEPA under Decree 58 of 1988 was an important step towards addressing desert encroachment, which the States Environmental Protection Agencies (SEPA) were established in the 36 states and FCT, it has the mandate to address environmental problems which also include desertification (Medugu, 2009).

However in 1977, the Federal Government set up the Arid Zone Aforestation Project which is to examine the problem of desertification in the country and check desert encroachment. In these states, tree planting campaigns were launched and forestry projects to check deforestation. Under this programme, Shelter Belts were established along the Northern borders of the country and assorted tree seedlings were produced and distributed. Also in this light is the Tree Planting Campaigns of the Buhari administration of 1984, as a way to enlighten and motivate people on the negative effects of desertification and the need to combat it (Jibunor, 2014).

Efforts were also made by government to develop dams for electricity generation and river basins to aid irrigation in the dry lands, all in effect to promote food production in Nigeria. The Nigerian government also established dams, River Basins, FADAMA Projects I, 11, 111, etc. Also a department of drought and desertification was created in the Federal Ministry of Environment to coordinate government activities towards the implementation of the Coordinating Committee on Desertification (CCD). Another aspect is the Great Green Wall Programme (GGWP); a Global Tree Planting Project to halt desert encroachment initiated in 2005 by former president Olusegun Obansanjo, and was inaugurated in 46 local government areas in the 11 frontline states of

Peak J. Soc. Sci. Humanit. 26 Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamafara, Sokoto, Yobe and Kebbi. The Federal government approved the sum of ₦10 million for the GGWP. It is a project developed by the African Union (AU) to address the detrimental social, economic and environmental impacts of land degradation and desertification in the region (Ministry of Environment, 2014). The programme was expected to generate economic activities for the citizens of the states involved and urge them to desist from felling but rather plant trees. Government has employed development programmes to foster sustainable human development in the affected areas and to help rehabilitate some of the degraded land, enhance food security, reduce rural poverty and general unemployment.

Government has had several levels of support; some of which are finance and technical assistance, loans and capacity building. Some of these partners include World Bank, IAEA, IFAD, CIDA, UNDP, UNIDO, China, etc. Some of the partnership cooperation like Japan international Agency (JICA) and the UNEP/GEF have been completed while a host of others are ongoing. Government also collaborated with the Agricultural Development Company Limited, an Israeli firm to work under the ‘desert to food programme’ to eradicate the menace of desertification (Norwegian Council for Africa, 2014).

Legislative framework was also enforced to encourage the execution of these projects in Nigeria. Borno State for instance initiated both remedial and preventive measures such as: i. The felling of trees (Control) Edit (Borno StateEdict No 8) of 1987 to control the use of wood for fuel and to check the pressure on the states meager forest resources. ii. The burning of bush (Control) Edit (Borno State Edict No 7) of 1987 to control bush burning. iii. A new Ministry of Animal and Forestry Resources was established in 1987 to coordinate all desertification control project in the state and to serve as headquarters for Borno state implementation Agency for the National Committee for drought and desertification control in Nigeria. iv. Planned Grass planting Control among others. Also in Katsina State, a Non Governmental Organisation known as Campaign for the Reforestation of Katsina State (CAREFOR) engaged in an enlightenment campaign on the need and urgency for reforestation by using posters and stickers, among others for public enlightenment campaign for reforestation in the state. More so, the Gidauniyar Jihar Kastina have expended the sum of ₦5.2 million towards enlightenment campaign on desertification on tree planting the state (Shehu, 2014). Thus for these efforts to succeed, they must be sustainable.

Jigawa state for instance, in collaboration with the

Mohammed 27

Table 1. Cereal production in Metric Tones.

Year Cereal production

2005 26031000

2006 28864000

2007 27171000

2008 30209000

2009 21267630

2010 24656270

2011 22165750

2012 26333000

2013 26970000

Source: World Bank 2014

United States launched a programme to harness the potential of Gum Arabic to fight desert encroachment and reduce poverty in the state (Haruna and Bukar, 2010) as the product has some economic value.

Further more in Sokoto State, the Sure P Programme embarked on tree planting which cover five (5) kilometer in every local government of the state. Government is also constructing earth dams in some local governments beginning with Isa, Illela, Sabon Brinin, Tanaza, Gada and others. The Sokoto State government has planted 170 Km of settler belts across the six front line local government.

Despite government effort in financial and material resources, these programmes have not generated permanent remedy to desertification and improved the wellbeing of farmers and livestock producers in the areas. Some of the trees planted as shelter belts to check the advancing dunes are withering. Most of these projects need rain fall to function and the operators have to wait for rain which in most cases is minimal. EFFECTS OF DESERTIFICATION ON FOOD SECURITY IN NIGERIA Nigeria has 910770 land area per sq km, with 38.429% of arable land area and 7.356% of permanent crop land area (World Bank, 2014). The affected areas (eleven frontline states) cover about 43.3% of total land area of the country (Olasupo, 2014). A large percent of the people in this area like in some other parts of Nigeria, are dependent on agriculture for a livelihood. Grains such as millet, corn, wheat, sorghum, etc and livestock are produced in these areas and a large share of domestic food production is derived from here. For some time now, bad weather conditions and environmental degradation have depleted land fertility to a degree that has affected food security. This impact is significant because Nigeria’s agriculture is rain fed and the people have not taken full advantage of its irrigation potential estimated to be between 2 - 2.5 million hectares, the area under irrigation

is estimated at about 220,000 hectares or less than 1% of the total areas under cultivation. (Tell Magazine May 5, 2008 in Ojo and Adebayo, 2012). The level of irrigated agriculture in relation to crop production is minimal and cannot guarantee food security. About the 35 million people located in the eleven (11) frontline states in northern Nigeria are facing threats of hunger and extreme weather conditions (Suleiman, 2011).

The people in these areas are small scale farmers who use simple farming technology that cannot subdue the threats posed by their environment as well as the increasing aridity and desert encroachment from the far north fingers of Nigeria around the Sahel region. Desert encroachment has negatively affected agricultural production in these areas. For instance, more than 65% of Sokoto state is said to be under siege while about 55% of Borno State is afflicted (Emordi, 2013) and in some areas of these state, sand dunes have invaded vast areas of farm land and people cannot make proper use of the land because the dunes have made it inaccessible. These areas are the major producers of livestock and staple cereals such as millet, corn, sorghum wheat, beans, groundnut which are essentials for food security. Table 1 shows cereal output in Nigeria.

It could be seen from Table 1 that between 2005 and 2013, there was no significant increase in cereal production. Between 2005 and 2008, some increase was noticed, output increased from 26031000 in 2005 to 30209000 in 2008, this was as a result of the implementation of various agricultural initiatives under the National Programme for food security but these increases are not significant enough. From 2009 to 2011, there was a decline; this could be as a result of many reasons. It could be as a result of the insecurity in some northern states or the farmers could not get adequate fertilizer and other inputs for their farms. The increase could be attributed to increased inputs and additional production by farmers who have relocated to safer areas.

Table 2 shows increasing trends in livestock and fish production but the growth is not enough to guarantee adequate nutrition. Shortfalls point to the fact that much

Peak J. Soc. Sci. Humanit. 28

Table 2. Livestock and Fish Production.

Year Livestock Fish

2006 97.31 552323

2007 107.33 530420

2008 110.13 601368

2009 114.54 598210

2010 118.06 616981

2011 126.18 NA

2012 127.3 NA

Source: World Bank 2015 and Unstats.Un.org

success has not been attained in this direction. The extreme dryness has affected ground water resources and disrupted the natural ecosystem of the area especially the production of fish.

Furthermore, there has been a steady decline in agricultural labour force. The inability to cope with the frustration of desertification and other challenges of the agricultural sector has made some farmers abandon farming to venture into non-farming activity. There have also been an unplanned population displacement and drift towards the Southern parts of the frontline states because a lot of arable land have been taken over by desert encroachment, thus making the dryness of the environment unsuitable for farming.

During the flag off of the GGWP in Kebbi State, the Minister of Environment, Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafiya disclosed that about 43.3% of total land area of the country is prone to desertification (Olasupo, 2014). In Yobe state for instance, it was indicated that productive land mass occupied by dunes have increased from 25,000 hectares to more than 30,000 hectares (Haruna and Bukar, 2010) with a negative impact on food and livestock production. With the inability of famers to engage the environment, poverty sets in as they cannot meet their basic needs.

A lot of farmers in Northern Nigeria are dependent on irrigation which enables them carry out all year farming but the sources of irrigation water are shrinking. There is significant evidence of land degradation around Lake Chad which is situated in the eastern part of this area. It has receded from about 241,000 sqkm, in 1963 to about 3,000 sqkm in 1984 (Omofonmwan and OsaEdoh, 2008) and this is due to natural hazards like sand transported to the area by wind and man’s misuse of the lake. Hadejia Valley Irrigation Project has remained uncompleted since inception in 1981. Related to this is the fact that tipa, a grass known as Kachalla (in Hausa); a perennial weed which grows along the river basin has negatively affected benefits from the basin by reducing the amount of water flow to some parts of the basin (Mohammed, 2012). This has reduced the number of hectares planted by farmers along the basin and in turn food production. The shrinking water levels has not only generated human suffering but

have also affected hydroelectric power generation in the country.

CONSEQUENCES OF DESERTIFICATION

Conflict

Most conflicts in Northern Nigeria are environmentally based, a large number of which is overgrazing, farmland and water. The conflicts are mainly between farmers and cattle herdsmen. The struggle for the remaining farm land has degenerated to communal clashes and also when cattle herdsmen move down wards in search of grazing land for their cattle they encroach on people’s farms and this usually leads to crisis. The conflict between the Agatu people and Fulani’s in Benue State, Biroms and Hausas in Plateau are good examples. A lot of these conflicts go on in Nigeria, some with large scale killing and property destruction.

Security threat

Government efforts and all measures on ground to overcome desertification and ensure food security, have been interrupted or even stalled in some areas by the terrorist insurgencies particularly the Boko Haram whose activities are heavily felt in three frontline states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, have negative impact for agricultural production in the affected area. The crisis has deprived people from going to farm, and transportation of food to these areas is a serious security threat for those who wish to do that. Coupled with this is the fact that livestock farming is facing a major challenge because of the level of insecurity in the North Eastern part of the country where insurgents attack and loot ranches of their cattle and other livestock. This has made cattle owners to sell off their cattle to avoid economic loses. Poverty The Federal Ministry of Environment explained that

Mohammed 29

Table 3. Nigeria’s Poverty head count Ratio at $1.25 a day % of population.

Year National (%)

1996 68.65

2004 61.84

2010 62.03

World bank 2015

Nigeria plunders its forest by more than 30 million ton of firewood annually due to pressure on urban poor who resort to the cheapest means of cooking (Abubakar, 2010). Desertification is one of the causes of poverty in Northern Nigeria. The social problem of poverty is a serious challenge many farmers face. Many of them cannot afford adequate livelihood and as well meet their basic needs because of low agricultural output, limited access to social and economic infrastructure like education, health, potable water, sanitation among others. The farmers have to look for alternatives to meet their needs and many of them do this through the sale of firewood further deforesting the soil. About 2.6 billion people in the world rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking (Krall and Heil, 2013). Nigeria forest area depreciated from 131370sq km in the 2000 to 82218 sq km in 2012 (World Bank, 2014). Most of the charcoal sellers claim that they are attracted to the business because it is a business one can do with little capital. One Sarah Okoro, a firewood seller explained thus:

‘we cook with the charcoal, feed our family from it and support our husbands in paying our children school fees (Ahmad, 2010).

A lot of people are faced with the problem of high cost of kerosene and cooking gas, thereby leaving people with no option than deforestation to provide fuel wood for the majority of the populace. Though the poverty level in Table 3 seems to be decreasing but the percentage is still very high. 62% of the population under poverty level has some negative implications for the national development of Nigeria. Technology Most of these farmers do not have the right technology to make better use of the soil for crop production. They lack adequate input like fertilizer which usually is expensive because most farmers buy from the open market as government supply which is relatively cheap comes late. In the face of these problems, farmers still manage to produce but a lot of the harvest is lost due to inadequate processing, storage and market technology. During harvest, there is usually abundant supply but non harvest period is characterized by high prices. Urban food prices

have been rising steadily as against income. According to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, Food Index for June and July 2014 was 9.8 and 9.9% respectively (NBS, 2014) which is a sign of core inflation due to low productivity; the demand for cheaper food cannot be fully met by farmers. Corruption Government efforts have been slow. The federal government of Nigeria have budgeted a lot of resources to combat this menace but the funds are usually mismanaged, especially at the level of implementation. An enormous sum has been invested in these projects but with minimal result. A lot of malpractices go on at the implementation level because of the inadequacies or lack of the monitoring and evaluating units at this level Policy inconsistency Policy inconsistency and implementation are some of the problems confronting desertification in Nigeria. There are several programmes and projects with many directorates addressing this problem. FADAMA I, II, III, River Basin Authority, FEPA, SEPA, etc, some of which are duplicated and short lived. Thus it becomes difficult to achieve credibility and better direction for the control of desert encroachment. Food supply Desertification has several effects on food security, the drought that occurred in the northern states between 1971 and 1973 seriously reduced production capacity, because of the intensity of the drought. Despite government programmes on food security to help improve food production and make a better livelihood, these efforts have not translated to optimum output of food. Farmers have complained that their low crop production and versatility in crops produced have been hampered by ebbing water supply caused by the encroaching desert. They spend a lot of money on water and farm inputs and at the end incur losses. The

frustrations in farming have made many peasant farmers to abandon farming for some other more profitable activities like commercial motorcycling where many of the young men have gone into. Some of the famers in the border areas have moved into the neighbouring country of Niger where they claim that government provides water for farmers and they pay a token after harvest (Tercula, 2015). Many of the young men who have moved to other areas are now engaged as commercial motorcycle riders. CONCLUSION The effect of desertification on the frontline state is devastating with serious implications on food production which is exacerbated by shrinking water levels in dams and other irrigation bodies in the areas. Though government and other stakeholders have put in a lot of efforts to mitigate the effects of desertification on food security but the problem persists. Thus urgent measures should be taken to check its continued south wards movement. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. As agriculture has transcended from development strategy to agric business, the private sector should partner with government and non government organisation to make the best of the situation. Government should intensify efforts in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) between local and foreign companies. This partnership could import some necessary technology that could be used to harness some benefits from desertification: especially with Israel that has made a breakthrough in agriculture in the desert. 2. Federal and state government should intensify poverty alleviation programmes especially to provide adequate water for the farmers. 3. Fadama on irrigation to ensure all year round planting (dry season agriculture). More emphases should be at the implement level and as well as re-enforce the monetary and evaluation unit. 4. With the current global effort on renewable energy, government should invest on the planting of Jatropha trees and some exotic trees that have economic benefits and which would add value to the livelihood of the people. 5. Adequate funds should be provided by the federal, state governments and other stakeholders, for the frontline states to fight desert encroachment and set up a desertification monitoring center.

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