Intergenerational Rescue Foundation (IRF), has called for innovation to tackle Nigeria’s rising food crisis.
The foundation made the call at Agroween 2025: Agroween Recognition Awards (ARA) 2025; Food, Agriculture, and Innovation Festival, held on Tuesday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hunger and worsening food insecurity dominated discussions as the convener and experts called for urgent, community-driven and innovative solutions.
Mrs Bimbola Aghahowa, IRF Chief Operating Officer, said hunger had become one of the world’s most pressing development challenges, with socioeconomic pressures often blamed on individuals instead of deeper governance failures and structural inequalities.
She cited FAO data showing 690 million people were hungry globally in 2020, adding that Nigeria remains among the worst affected, with about 50 million citizens facing severe food insecurity.
Aghahowa said hunger levels reached about 30 per cent in Lagos and as high as 40–50 per cent in parts of northern Nigeria.
She stressed the need for stronger collaboration among citizens, institutions and government.
She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic showed how quickly a health crisis could escalate into hunger, inspiring community interventions such as Agroween’s research-driven programmes and its “Food Not for Sale” food-rights framework.
According to her, Agroween promotes food as a universal human right rather than a commodity, running food pantries, composting workshops, research projects and its Rent-A-Lot farming scheme to strengthen community access and resilience.
Delivering a keynote address, Prof. Vide Adedayo, called for a radical shift in Nigeria’s food-production approach, insisting that traditional farming methods alone cannot meet rising demand or withstand climate and economic pressures.
Adedayo said food security requires availability, affordability, safety and access, warning that fragmented policies, climate shocks, low innovation, insecurity, labour shortages and post-harvest waste continue worsening Nigeria’s food system outcomes.
She noted that Nigeria wastes between 40 and 50 per cent of its produced food, even as millions struggle with hunger.
She added that agricultural exports from Nigeria suffer frequent rejection due to poor safety standards.
She urged Nigeria to embrace innovation such as digital tools, renewable energy, precision farming, indigenous knowledge systems and circular-economy practices to strengthen resilience and prepare for future population growth.
In his welcome address, Prof. Samuel Adejoh, Head of Social Work, UNILAG, said food insecurity is also a social-justice and national-security issue requiring long-term community empowerment and policy reforms.
Adejoh said Africa accounts for nearly one-third of global food-insecure persons, with Nigeria recording over 120 million food-insecure citizens and millions experiencing acute hunger across rural and urban communities.
He urged social workers, institutions and development partners to build innovative models that strengthen livelihoods, empower households and reduce dependency on relief-based interventions.
Stakeholders at a panel session agreed that Nigeria must adopt sustainable practices, strengthen collaboration and prioritise food equity to ensure that no citizen goes hungry in the face of mounting socioeconomic and climate pressures.
They reaffirmed commitment to building a just food system where innovation drives access, community participation improves resilience, and food is ultimately available not for sale, but for all Nigerians.
NAN reports that the climax of the event was the Agroween Recognition Award given to Prof. Desmond Majekodunmi, Prof. Vide Adedayo and Mrs Funke Egbemode, to mention but a few.
The event also had compost training and workshop for students from various secondary schools. (NAN)
