Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has called for urgent reforms to Nigeria’s food system, warning that industrial agriculture, restrictions on farmers’ rights to indigenous seeds and the neglect of agroecology are undermining food sovereignty, nutrition and climate resilience.
The environmental organisation said hunger amid abundant natural and human resources reflected deeper failures in political and economic choices, stressing that tackling food insecurity required more than increasing agricultural output.
In a statement to mark World Food Day, HOMEF urged governments to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, protect farmers’ rights, strengthen local food systems and ensure that smallholder farmers retain control over the seeds they plant.
The organisation said climate change, economic instability and conflicts continued to disrupt food production and distribution, exposing the vulnerability of food systems that prioritise industrial uniformity over agricultural diversity.
Its Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, said the annual observance should serve as an opportunity to confront the structural problems within the food system rather than merely celebrate food production.
“World Food Day should be a day of reflection. It must also be a day of structural reckoning,” Bassey said, criticising what he described as a food system dominated by monoculture and cash cropping at the expense of biodiversity and farmers’ independence.
He said the approach had weakened food supply chains, depleted soil vitality and reduced farmers’ ability to determine what they grow and how they produce it.
Bassey urged Nigerians to be more conscious of the food they consume, arguing that food sovereignty must be central to efforts to address the interconnected food and climate crises.
He described indigenous seeds as critical resources for adapting to changing climatic conditions, noting that their genetic diversity could support drought resistance, pest management and improved nutritional outcomes.
“We must move beyond the short-sighted goal of ‘yield at any cost’ and support a transition to agroecology,” he said.
According to him, protecting indigenous seeds goes beyond local control of agricultural resources, as it also safeguards the biodiversity needed to sustain ecosystems and food production.
“We cannot have a healthy planet if we continue to destroy the very biological foundations that are our seeds, that allow life to persist,” he added.
HOMEF’s Director of Programmes, Joyce Brown, said the persistence of hunger in a resource-rich continent exposed the consequences of prevailing political and economic policies.
She argued that food should not be treated merely as a commodity for profit but as an essential component of public health, cultural identity and human rights.
Brown said genuine food sovereignty required governments and international institutions to reconsider policies that favour industrial exporters over small-scale local producers.
“True food sovereignty means shifting the power dynamics of the food system,” she said, adding that local producers should receive greater support to produce food that meets the nutritional and cultural needs of their communities.
She also warned that restrictions on farmers’ access to and use of indigenous seeds could weaken nutritional security, particularly among vulnerable populations.
Brown specifically raised concerns about the Nigerian Plant Variety Protection Act, 2021, arguing that seed-related policies must protect farmers’ rights and preserve their ability to save and replant traditional varieties.
“We must ensure that our policies treat the right to food as a right to local sovereignty, ensuring that the people closest to the land have the authority to decide how it is used and what is grown upon it,” she said.
Similarly, the Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Mariann Bassey-Olsson, described seed-saving as an act of resistance, independence and cultural preservation.
She rejected the argument that industrial agriculture was the only viable means of feeding the world, pointing to the contributions of smallholder farmers who have sustained communities for generations.
According to her, preserving and exchanging indigenous seeds enables farmers to maintain control over their agricultural resources without becoming dependent on corporate seed ownership and chemical-intensive production systems.
Bassey-Olsson said traditional seed varieties represented generations of adaptation to local soils and climatic conditions, making them valuable resources for resilient food production.
“Food sovereignty begins and ends with the absolute freedom to save, exchange, and replant our own varieties. If we lose control of our seeds, we surrender our autonomy,” she said.
HOMEF further called for greater investment in diverse local food systems and improved access to agricultural knowledge and resources for smallholder farmers and marginalised communities.
The organisation urged a shift towards regenerative agricultural practices, particularly agroecology, which it said could improve soil health, support biodiversity, strengthen rural livelihoods and enhance the nutritional quality of food.
It also opposed what it described as false solutions to food insecurity, including genetic modification of crops, arguing that such technologies could threaten farmers’ control over seeds and increase dependence on foreign corporations.
The organisation maintained that future food systems should prioritise nutritional quality, ecological sustainability and the economic wellbeing of local communities rather than focus narrowly on production volumes.
World Food Day, observed annually on October 16, seeks to raise awareness of hunger and food security and promote access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.
With this year’s theme stated as “Innovate Today” and “Nourish Tomorrow,” HOMEF said efforts to secure the future of food must begin with policies that empower local farmers, protect agricultural biodiversity and recognise adequate food as a fundamental human right.