Food insecurity in Nigeria - An analysis of the impact of climate change, economic development, and conflict on food security

Food insecurity is a major problem in Nigeria. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that Nigeria’s food security situation has worsened in the past 15 years. This thesis examines the impacts of different factors that jeopardize the Nigerian food security situation. According to previous literature, there are mostly three factors that affect food security; climate change, economic development, and violent conflict. Nigeria is the chosen case study because all the above mentioned factors play a key role in the country; it is affected by climate change, the economy is fluctuating and there has been the Boko Haram insurgency going on since 2009. This thesis aims, with the help of the concept of food security, to analyze these factors to see whether and to what extent they influence food insecurity in Nigeria. The thesis uses a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data are retrieved from several databases that give measurements on food security, climate change, economy, and conflict. Qualitative data are reports and interviews that were conducted with Nigerian NGO’s. Cautious findings show that all three factors can lead to food insecurity and, therefore, can explain why there is food insecurity in Nigeria. Finally, this paper concludes and confirms theresults of existing research in the case of Nigeria