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By Stella Odueme
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has cautioned political actors against misrepresenting the October 2026 Cadre Harmonisé food security assessment for political purposes.
Kyari said the assessment, which projected that 33.5 million Nigerians could face severe food and nutrition insecurity between June and August 2027, should be treated as an early warning tool rather than an instrument for political campaigns.
The minister stated this in a press release signed by him on November 2, 2026, in response to what he described as attempts by opposition voices to turn the assessment into a political message ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He explained that the Cadre Harmonisé was developed by the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), in collaboration with regional and technical partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), FEWS NET, UNICEF and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
According to him, the assessment is designed to identify food and nutrition security risks and enable governments and development partners to take early action, not to predict election outcomes.
Kyari clarified that the projected 33.5 million people expected to face food insecurity in 2027 represented a decline from the 34.8 million projected for the corresponding period in 2026.
He attributed the challenges to several factors, including climate change, inconsistent rainfall, prolonged dry spells and the Super El Niño phenomenon, which he said had disrupted weather patterns, planting seasons and agricultural production in different regions.
The minister stressed that the assessment did not attribute the projected food insecurity to the continuation of any political administration.
He said the Federal Government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was responding through increased access to fertiliser and other agricultural inputs, mechanisation, irrigation, dry-season farming, agricultural financing, improved access to farmland, storage and processing facilities, and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
Kyari also identified improved security in some farming communities as a major development supporting agricultural production, noting that farmers previously prevented from accessing their farmlands were gradually returning to cultivation.
He specifically cited Marte and Guzamala in Borno State, where improved stability had enabled data collectors to conduct the Cadre Harmonisé assessment in areas previously inaccessible to them.
The minister further listed progress in fertiliser distribution and local blending, support for smallholder farmers, mechanisation partnerships, dry-season production and agricultural financing through the Bank of Agriculture.
While acknowledging that food insecurity remained a longstanding structural challenge, Kyari said the government was committed to addressing its underlying causes and strengthening the country's food supply systems.
He urged political actors to exercise restraint and responsibility when discussing food security, warning against reducing the challenges affecting millions of Nigerians to political talking points.
"We welcome scrutiny. We welcome constructive criticism. But there is a clear difference between legitimate political debate and deliberately misrepresenting a technical assessment for electoral propaganda," he said.
The minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to using the assessment to strengthen interventions, support farmers, protect livelihoods and improve access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.