By Nnimmo Bassey
Food is a human right. A good way to look at food security is to approach it in terms of agriculture, property rights and environmental management. Th e deep link to agriculture is inescapable, as the majority of our people are engaged in the production of food in one form or the other. And the story of the despoiled Niger Delta environment is well told. In 1996, SERAC fi led a case against the Federal Government of Nigeria at the African Commission Human and Peoples’ Rights, denouncing “the widespread contamination of soil, water and air; the destruction of homes; the burning of crops and killing of farm animals; and the climate of terror the Ogoni communities had been suff ering of, in violation of their rights to health, a healthy environment, housing and food.
In terms of the African Charter, these allegations included violations of Articles 2 (non-discriminatory enjoyment of rights), 4 (right to life), 14 (right to property), 16 (right to health), 18 (family rights), 21 (right of peoples to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources) and 24 (right of peoples to a satisfactory environment)” When the Commission reached a decision in 2011, the FG was found culpable, violating the people’s right to food.
Th us, when we consider the food security in the Niger Delta, we must keep in mind that there is a continued failure of the governments to uphold the right of the people to safe and satisfactory food and by extension, all the other rights. Food is available when food producers are able to invest their time, energy, resources and skills in farming, herding or fi shing and attain good harvests for subsistence or for commercial purposes. Food is accessible when it can be found within reach of the hungry, and critically so when they have the purchasing power to acquire it. Food availability is also anchored on the appropriateness of the items within the cultural context.
Production and consumption of food depend not just on current realities, but also on the collective and cultural memories of the people. Th ese include how seeds are acquired and from whom, as well as how they are sown and by whom. Are the seeds purchased or do farmers get them from what they had saved? Is planting solely individual eff ort or does it include the cooperation of neighbours and other communal confi gurations? For farmers to supply food in quantities that cover their needs and leave surpluses for the market, they have to sow suffi cient seeds of good quality and on good quality soil.
Th e impoverishment of farmers could lead to reduction in the scope of their productive ability – including farm size, quality and quantity of seeds, as well as their capacity to work. When soils are of poor quality, the best eff orts of the farmers would be largely futile and unproductive. When the soils are bad, the harvests would be bad and seeds saved to be planted would be of poor quality and are bound to yield poorer harvests. In situations of this nature, farmers engage in farming as a routine, on automaton, expecting little and getting nothing. With the depth of pollution in the Niger Delta, farming is often mere tradition. Over the years, local food varieties have been lost or abandoned. Massive deforestation due to logging, land use conversion, infrastructure development and industrial activities threaten vital food sources. Oil exploration and extraction have brought about major changes in food production and access in the Niger Delta.
Th e impacts come through the entire chain: from seismic activities of the exploration stage to the production, transportation and eventual usage stages. Seismic activities in the seas have direct impact on aquatic life forms and in addition drilling wastes impact both land and water bodies. Dumping hundreds of millions of barrels of produced water into the environment adds to the deadly pollution. Oil spills from equipment failure and from third party interferences add to the tragic situation. Gas fl ares diminish agricultural productivity and the use of the furnaces to process foods contaminate and poison the people.
Th e most assured way of ensuring food security in Niger Delta is the protection/ management of the environment and the enhancement of her agricultural biodiversity. Agro-biodiversity is one of the basic productive assets of family farmers. Th is will require a halt of the pollutions, including gas fl aring going on in the Niger Delta.[3] On a national scale, it would necessitate the repeal of the National Biosafety Management Act 2015 and the enacting of a National Biodiversity Management Act that would not only protect and ensure the preservation of our agricultural biodiversity but would also help kick start a bio-economy based on nature’s gifts to the nation. Bassey is an environmental activist and director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF).
