Thinking the African Food Crisis - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 779

cross-border trade and massive imports were compensating for the slump in domestic
output(AyodeleAriyo,Voh,andAhmed2001).Since2003thestaplefoodpriceindex
hasriseninexorablyfrom100inJanuary2003to260inJanuary2011.Asiftodrivehome
the sense of a food system on the brink, lurching from one bout of vulnerability to the
next,theKatsinaStategovernmentwascompelledtoreleasegrainsforsaleata50 per-
centdiscountinFebruary2012inthefaceofunsustainablyhighlocalpricesandaimed
at“alleviatingthesuferingofthepeople”(Olaniyan2008).Insomerespectsitallseems
the same, but worse.
None of this should imply a regional economy locked into the prison-house of rural
stagnation and decay. The last three decades and more have witnessed an extraordinary
transformation—orratheraratoftransformations—inruralandurbanlivelihoodsin
Nigeria,andacrosstheSahel.hisperiodhasseenextraordinaryratesofurbanization,
Islamization, and deepening rural commercialization—the efects (always local and
speciic)oftheneoliberalreformsfromthemid-1980sandthewavesofoilrevenuescas-
cading through the economic and political system. What Katsina and Kaita village have
to show for all of this oil wealth is precious little. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics esti-
matesthatthepovertyrateforthenorthwestzone(includingKatsinaState)grewfrom
52 percentin1985to71 percenttwodecadeslater(thecomparableigureintheso-called
South-Southregionfor2005was35 percent).Nearlythree-quartersofnorthernerscur-
rentlyliveonlessthan$200ayear,farbelowanypovertyline( Economist ,January14,
2012,44).InKatsinaStatethepovertyheadcountgrewfrom54.7 percentto60.9 percent
between2004and2010.Aterfourdecadesofoildevelopment,thesocialandhuman
development indices for the state remain shockingly low even by Nigerian standards.
Amongapopulationof6.4 million,1.83 millionhaveneverattendedschool;68.3 per-
cent reside in mud or thatch dwellings; almost half obtain water from lakes, streams, and
unprotected wells; and nearly two-thirds are without electricity (Federal Government of
Nigeria2009).
A gloss of rural conditions in the state can be gleaned from a baseline study of farmers
inthreeKatsinalocalgovernmentareas(LGAs)in2004,conductedbyUNInternational
FundforAgriculturalDevelopment(IFAD2004).Itrevealsanutterlymiserableproile
ofruralpovertyinthestate.Two-thirdsofthesampleneverattendedschool,0.4 percent
hadhighereducation,andabout90 percentoftherespondentshadnevertakenthe hadj
(anindicationofeconomicwell-being).91.7 percentownedawood/mud-thatchedroof,
whileonly0.2 percentownedamoderncementandblock/brickzincroof.hesurvey
revealedthat71.4 percentacquiredwaterfromawell,while2.3 percentgotwaterfrom
rainwater,and90 percentusedirewoodasfuel.Householdincomederivedfromthe
previousseason'scropsalesrevealedthatabout67.4 percentoftherespondentsreceived
N15,000(US$115)orless.Over81 percentoftherespondentsheldlessthanonehect-
areofland,and61.8 percentofhouseholdspurchasedfood(14 percentdaily,35 percent
weekly).hree-quartersofrespondentsindicatedafoodshortagecopedwithbybor-
rowingmoney(27.5 percent),borrowingfood(23.5 percent),andsellingassets(20.3 per-
cent)(IFAD2009,30).A subsequentUSAIDsurveyinMarch-April2007inBulungudi,
ZangoLGA,totheeastofKaita,sketchedasimilarpattern.Almost40 percentofthe