Famine Alert In Africa 2013: Food Shortages To Hit Nigeria & 9 African Countries!

The World Bank has
sounded an alert about an imminent
drought in Africa, that will affect
Nigeria and at least nine other African
countries. In a report titled "African
Pulse", the World Bank painted a grim
scenario of what could happen to
agriculture and food prices in the
affected countries in the event of the
predicted drought. "In Africa, droughts
are recurrent events, with adverse
effects on local communities and the
ecosystem. In a region where the
majority of people depend on farming
or raising animals, droughts inevitably
have very negative consequences," the
bank stated. World Bank said the first
wave would hit Cameroon, Cote
D'ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda
between 2013 and 2015. The second
wave of drought would hit all the
remaining countries in the region over
2016 and 2018. The report urged
countries in the continent to make
adequate preparations to avert the
many implications of the drought. Mr
Shedrack Madlion, an environment
expert, has urged the Federal
Government to begin "massive''
promotion of irrigation farming, to
ensure food sufficiency in Nigeria.
Madlion, the Executive Director,
Admiral Agricultural and
Environmental Care, said:"The World
Bank report on Tuesday of imminent
drought has further brought the need
for government to promote irrigation in
the country. "If we fail to plan, then we
have planned to fail; therefore, I must
advise the Federal Government to
begin plans towards proper irrigation.
"This is considering government's plan
towards making agriculture a major
player in the Nigerian economy.'' He
also suggested that if irrigation must
work, the 147 dams in the country
must be working. He said that drought
was imminent because only about two
per cent of Nigeria's dams were
functional. "The report of an impending
drought between now and 2015 should
not have affected us if we keep our
dams in good condition. "Out of about
147 dams only about two per cent is
functioning." He called for the repair of
non-functional dams as about 80 per
cent of Nigerian farmers depended on
dams. According to the report made
available to newsmen, droughts are
recurrent events with adverse effects
on local communities and the
ecosystem. [Africa Pulse By World
Bank]