I am currently working on the climate change, migration, and conflict nexus.
Please find below my contribution on experiences and effective policy approaches in addressing food security and nutrition in the context of changing rural-urban dynamics.
Any efforts aimed at improving food security and nutrition especially in developing countries would indeed have to begin with the rural communities. This is because these communities and households are plagued by unprecedented challenges ranging from serious food crisis caused by climate change (due to high dependence on nature), to rural-urban migration.
Based on experiences from studies carried out in rural communities in Southeast Nigeria, pest infestation, and unpredictable weather events due to climate change; and inadequate social infrastructure motivate the migration of young farm household members to urban areas leaving behind an ageing and a more vulnerable population including women, children, and the disabled. These population left back in the rural areas are therefore vulnerable and exposed on all fronts as they confront climate effects, and labor shortages, and a weak households which affect food production and constitute a threat to food security and nutrition.
Bearing in mind this scenario, efforts should be made towards empowering the vulnerable household members (mostly women, children, and the disabled) left behind in these rural areas. Any effective policy approach would entail improving the capacity of the few with respect to adaptation to climate change as applicable in the areas of interest; as most households, lacking the capacity to adapt basically do nothing, while some others view migration as a way of adaptation in itself in the face of climate stress.
Therefore, adaptation to climate change directed towards maintaining the existing output or improving productivity of farm produce rather than sourcing for off-farm income through migration and a subsequent hope of remittance if any, should be advocated and encouraged as this would effectively contribute in addressing the problem of food security and nutrition in many rural-communities in Nigeria.
In addition, social infrastructure services ought to be provided in rural communities to keep the youth gainfully engaged. This will also help reduce rural-urban migrantion of young people in their numbers as is been observed in Nigeria.
Greetings.
My contribution is as follows:
1. We expect that this Action on Nutrition should target vulnerable groups especially in the rural areas in low income countries like Nigeria. With the right amount of commitment, significant progress can be achieved.
2. The work plans should include actions against climate change with respect to mitigation and adaptation; while increasing awareness, and involving local community people in these processes; thereby making the people (beneficiaries) look forward to the expected future outcome.
In addition, issues of climate change-induced migration should be included, as evidence now suggests that nutrition and food security of households left behind are affected significantly.
Also, post-harvest losses of especially perishable farm produce constitute a problem in rural many rural communities in Nigeria. In other words, providing storage and preservation facilities would help minimize these losses. Therefore, funding through co-operative societies in these domains will be effective at the community level.
3. Making the actors be more involved in the process of implementation will help to improve commitment. Setting-up of monitoring and implementation committees by public and private actors at the local and community levels to monitor progress at intervals, and report feedback with regard to implementation.
4. All relevant forums can contribute momentarily through meaningful suggestion(s) on particular courses of action based on the feedbacks from the monitoring process.
Sr. Ikenna Ejiba
Poor rural households have limited access to productive resources and are most times economically disenfranchised. These groups need more robust interventions to allow for a sustainable living. Agriculture and agricultural interventions will only succeed in a safe, secure, and conflict free environment. Climate change induced herder migration resulting in conflict as is the case in Nigeria and other parts of the world will deprive households access to land and other natural resources thereby sustaining the spate of extreme poverty in the areas so affected.
Therefore as stated earlier, broader food security policies and interventions are required at all levels of government, to capture the effects of climate change, including it's potential negative fallouts like induced migration and conflict. This is essential in achieving food security and reducing extreme poverty especially in rural areas.