Food Security in Nigeria and South Africa: Policies and Challenges

Abstract

This paper highlights food security situation and reflects on the challenges of food security in two sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria and South Africa. Over the years, Nigeria and South Africa ha ve made several attempts to address the issue of increased affordable food production in both quantity and quality. Some of these attempts have cumulated into several programmes and projects aimed at boosting agricultural production. Commendable as some of these policies and programs are, it would appear that the goal of food security might not be achieved with these initiatives alone in the respective countries. A number of challenges appear to limit effective implementation of these strategies. Therefore, in order to exploit the benefit of food security policies in the two countries, there may be need to share experiences between Nigeria and South Africa with the overall purpose of reducing food insecurity.