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‘You will still be hungry’ – Tinubu's minister blames El Niño for food shortage

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, says Nigeria’s projected food insecurity crisis is due to climate change, inconsistent rainfall and the Super El Niño phenomenon.

Kyari said this in a statement, stating that the weather is no longer stable and the long dry season has scattered planting time, affecting farm produce and making it hard for farmers to depend on rainfall to farm.

"Food insecurity is caused by Super El Niño and climate change. It is affecting our farms and food production,” he said.

Kyari said the administration of President Bola Tinubu is giving farmers more fertiliser and other farm inputs, bringing in more tractors, expanding irrigation and dry season farming, giving more farm loans and building storage and processing centres.

He said security has improved in some farming communities, so farmers who ran away from their farms can now go back to farm.

The minister mentioned Marte and Guzamala in Borno State, saying the areas are now more peaceful and officials were able to go there to do the Cadre Harmonisé assessment, after they could not enter the places before because of insecurity.