Contest| The future of food; Innovation meets Tradition!

INTRODUCTION

When you hear “food security,” what comes to your mind first? For some people, it's just having food for today or cooking three times a day. But food security goes beyond that. It’s about constant and stable access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food — for everyone, at all times.

We’re living in a world where some places have more than enough food and so they waste food while others don't even have food to eat. And for we Nigerians, we know that this issue touches us real deep.

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What Food Security Truly Means

Food security is not just about eating today. It means:

1. Availability – Enough food is available.

2. Accessibility – People can afford and get it.

3. Utilization – Food is safe and nutritious.

4. Stability – It is available for long-term.

If any of these four break down, then there will be hunger.

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Why It Matters

Without food, nothing will work. Hunger affects learning, health, productivity, and even peace. If there is no food, then problem arises — crime, violence, rural-urban migration, you name it. Hunger causes real damage.

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What Causes Food Insecurity?

1. Poor Farming Practices – Many farmers don't have modern tools, fertilizer, or improved seeds.

2. Climate Change – Flood, drought, heat — all of these scatters harvest.

3. Insecurity – Farmers have fear of being attacked; and so they cannot go farm.

4. Post-Harvest Loss – No storage or processing. Food will get spoilt.

5. Economic problems – Prices get too high. Even if food is available, people would not be able to afford it.

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Last year, garri that was normal man's food started to be scarce, as the price skyrocketed. Even rice and pepper followed suit. I also knew people who went to the farm and came back empty-handed because herdsmen had destroyed their crops.

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How Can Nigeria Improve Food Security?

1. Support Farmers – Give them tools, training, storage facilities, etc.

2. Irrigation – Rain is not reliable. Use water systems

3. Youth in Agriculture – Agriculture is not for the elderly alone, more youth can venture farming to profit-making ventures by supporting them with loans and tech.

4. Stop Food Waste – Improve storage and transport.

5. Buy Local – Reduce import, boost local production.

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For Nigeria to Improve

We have land, sun, manpower. What we need now is good policy and security. If we support real farmers, improve infrastructure, and encourage processing industries, then hunger will reduce.

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Conclusion

Food is not luxury. It's the basic need. Thank a farmer for getting to eat today. If you want to eat tomorrow, support agriculture. I would have loved to write more but since the rule of this contest states that the words should be between 400-450 words, hence the short writeup.

I invite @imohmitch @mr-peng @us-andrew