Nagging Food Insecurity Amidst Numerous Public Agricultural Policies, Strategies, Programmes and Projects in Nigeria: Identifying and Fixing the Key Issues

— Despite numerous public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects aimed at boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security in the past consecutive five decades in Nigeria, seven out of ten Nigerians are food insecure. The study identified the key issues that need to be fixed, using theoretical and documentary methods and survey research designs. Four hundred (400) academics/practitioners in food policies/production/security were purposively selected based on online visibility. They were reached for information, using Google Questionnaire. Data were analysed using frequency tables and factor analysis. Finding sidentified six (6) key issues that needed to be fixed, namely predominance of smallholder subsistence farming, use of rudimentary tools, unimproved varieties of seeds and other inputs, traditional storage and preservation practices, deficit of marketing infrastructure, and dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Fixing themcan address the four dimensions of food security. The key issues were related more to science technology and innovation (STI) than to other selected development sub-sectors. They were attributable to poor STI adoption and can be fixed by STI adoption. Therefore, STI adoption for agricultural production was recommended for the attainment of food security in Nigeria.


INTRODUCTION
Hungry people-persons with a sense of inner emptinessare bereft of a sense of discernment of right and wrong. They settle for anything that can minister to their empty stomachs, even if it offends someone. What is bitter tastes good to them. Food is a foremost basic need of people and food security is a sine qua non for meaningful development, which is about improving the welfare of people. The welfare of people begins with food, but does not end with it. People may do without clothing or shelter for as long as necessary, but not food, the absence of which destabilizes them mentally, such that they cannot engage in any meaningful activity to help selves, other people or the society. Faced with an abject lack of food, clothing and shelter, the destitute scavenge for food from waste dumps, ignoring the other two basic needs of people, while going naked or ragged and making habitat of anything at all (Schuldt, 2019). Therefore, it is a front-burner development concern that more than one billion people are hungry mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), while 2 billion eat too much wrong food (Kaur, 2019). This unacceptable situation informs the SDG 2 which aims to "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture" by 2030 in all the countries of the world (http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html).Th e first United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1) had aimed to "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger" between 2000 and 2015 in all the countries of the world. Poverty is connected to food. Indeed, the thresholds for determining that someone is poor were originally calculated as the budget necessary to buy a certain number of calories, plus some other indispensable purchases, such as housing. A poor person is essentially someone without enough to eat (Banerjee and Duflo, 2011 13 104 target year, 2015, the G8 countries might have hit the MDGs, but Nigeria certainly did not, with hunger rising and poverty deepeningto the point that Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world by 2019(http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.htm l).It is being hoped that SDG 2will not fare the way of MDG 1 in Nigeria. In the past five decades , Nigeria has had a plethora ofpublic agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects for boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security and agricultural sustainability. It is curious that, in spite of the numerous public initiatives and interventions, seven out of ten Nigerians are food insecure (Okojie, 2019). There must be some issues which need to be identified and fixed. What are the key issues behind the failure of public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects for food security in Nigeria? What is the extent fixing them can address the four dimensions of food security? To which development sub-sectors are the key issues related? How can the key issues be fixed? These are the objects ofthe study, the findings of which would help teaseout workable recommendations for way-forward.

Review of relevant literature
The concepts of food security policy, science technology and innovation (STI) and its adoption are reviewed. A brief profile of food security in Nigeria is examined. Public policies, strategies, programmes and projects for boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security in Nigeria, as well as factors affecting food security and their effects on development in Nigeria are reviewed.

1.1.1Food security policy
Food security policy includes decision-making around production and processing techniques, marketing, availability, utilization and consumption of food in the interest of meeting or furthering social objectives. It is designed to influence the operation of the food and agricultural system for the community (local, national, regional or global) and for commitment to nurturing the development of a food secure nation in which all citizens are hunger-free, healthy and benefit from the food systems that impact their lives. It affirms the nation's commitment to supporting sustainable food systems that provide people with high quality food, employment, and that also contribute to the long-term well-being of the environment(FAO, 2009). It addresses current access to quality food in the nation, hunger and malnutrition, impacts/effects of an inadequatediet, citizen education,economic injustice in the foodsystem, urban agriculture, the role of schools and other publicinstitutions, and emergency response. The document is organized by a statement of the issues, followed by actions needed to address those issues (FAO, 2009).

1.1.2Science technology and innovation (STI) and its adoption
According to National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM, 2017), STI refers to science technology and innovation. Other nuances and their acronyms are S&T (science and technology), R&D (research and development), STIP (science, technology, innovation and partnership), and R&P (research and partnership). Scientific research produces discoveries to improve lives and societies; technological breakthroughs revolutionize commerce and knowledge-sharing; and innovation inspires people to seek new solutions to persistent problems. The use of technology in industrial development and the resulting gaps in productivity explains the differentials in development status of countries. Countries with high levels of investment in physical capital instead of in technology run the risk of facing diminishing returns and slow growth. Ultimately, weak productivity growth in developing countries exacerbates poverty, energy deficiency and environmental debt, to name but a few significant implications. Conversely, investment in technology guarantees continuous productivity growth and potential for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. It is therefore important to focus on the factors that are involved in increased technical efficiency (more output per input or more resource productivity) and technological change, both of which are components of productivity growth. A significant reason behind developing countries' weak productivity is the low rate of innovation. A coordinated national system of innovation (NSI) is needful to promote investment in innovation, decreases the constraints on the creation of new knowledge and technology, and boosts the rates of adoption and adaptation of existing technologies. STI policies help raise productivity, improve firm competitiveness, support faster growth and create jobs (NASEM, 2017). According to Eneh (2010), STI adoption refers to the stage in which STI is selected for use by an individual or an organization. Related terms are technology diffusion and technology integration. The former refers to the stage in which the technology spreads to general use and application, while the latter connotes a sense of acceptance, and perhaps transparency, within the user environment. Typically, adoption of a new technology signals a confidence in its potential to alleviate a particular problem or to make a job easier or more efficient; rarely has bringing about new social and functional conditions been a consideration. Most of these livestocks were owned by rural dwellers (Odumade, 2017). Nigeria soon turned to petroleum as the mainstay of the nation's economy, neglected agricultural sector and rapidly grew into a major food importer. The oil-economy quickly polarized the nation's population into a small fraction of high-income group that benefit from the oil wealth and a major fraction of low-income group suffering food insecurity because it cannot afford imported foods. Nigeria became shackled in food insecurity (Matemilola and Elegbede, 2017). Engagement of a sizable ratio of the population in subsistence agriculture and high regulation of the economy of 1960-1986 became the responses, which could only ensure supply, but not affordability and accessibility, of food (Adebayo, 2010). Food supplies improved considerably in the subsequent deregulated economy that followed the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986. But, food accessibility, utilization and security status worsened. Between 1980 and 1990, per capita agricultural production even declined or stagnated (Dauda, 2006

1.1.4Public policies, strategies, programmes and projects for boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security and agricultural sustainability in Nigeria
A societyevolves three basic ways to provide food as an existential imperative: (i) policy to rely on its resources (e.g. primitive societies), (ii) food imports to supplement local production (e.g. modern economies), and (iii) involving the control of the resources of others to ensure regular supply of its needs (e.g. imperialists). The Vision 2010 recognized that Nigeria is well endowed with natural resources and sought to improve the enabling environment to enhance the exploitation of these resources to make NigeriaAfrica's leading economy and an industrial nation (Njoku, 2000). Nigeria has had a plethora of policies, strategies, programmes and projects for boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security and agricultural sustainability (Okuneye, 2002 (Njoku, 2000). In spite of these public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects aimed at boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security in the past consecutive five decades, seven out of ten Nigerians are food insecure (Okojie, 2019). This is intriguing and contrary to the expectations that putting sufficient public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects on ground would boost agricultural production and result in food security in Nigeria. Therefore,it has become necessary to identify the key issues that need to be fixed.

Factors affecting food security and their effects on developmentin Nigeria
Ogundele (2019) water stress (irrigation), deficit of marketing infrastructure, dependence on rain-fed agriculture, and poverty. These and other factors lead to famine (undernourishment, malnutrition, wasting and stunting), soil erosion, deforestation (overgrazing, over-cultivation), rising prices, debt, and social unrest.But, boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security ensures a well-fed and healthy population, availability of raw materials for local use and export, growth of foreign reserves through export of raw materials, ease of financing (from rich foreign reserves) food import to supplement local production, transfer of productive resources (investable surpluses of capital and labour) to other sectors of the economy for economic development of the country, value addition through effective value chain management, revenue improvement through payment of taxation, diversification that averts the vagaries of price fluctuation of the nation's monolithic oil economy, and provision of remunerative employment. Unfortunately, numerous and varied public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects to boost agricultural production for the attainment of food security since 1970 have not yielded the desired food security status.

II. METHODS
A combination of theoretical and documentary research methods and a survey research design was adopted. Four hundred (400) academics/practitioners in food policy/production/security were purposively selected based on their online visibility, qualifications, experiences and outputs, as most competent to address the research questions. Inclusion criteria were having a minimum of ten (10) cognate research highly rated publications in food security policy and agricultural production, and being among the first 400 persons to indicate availability for the study. Exclusion criterion was inability to make it to the list of the first 400 persons selected based on the inclusion criteria. Information was elicited in three separate questionnaires. The first questionnaire, which served for preliminary survey, contained an open-ended question on the issues that needed to be fixed to reverse the failure trend ofthe numerous public agricultural policies, strategies, programmes and projects and bring about the much needed food security. The suggested items formed a long list of twenty-eight (28)random answers arranged vertically in descending order of frequency.The list was subjected to factor analysis to pick the key issues, which happened to be six (6) ( Table 1). The second questionnaire, whichwas sent again to respondents, contained questions on the extent the key issues were real, fixing the key issues could address the four dimensions of food security, and the key issues were related to selected development sub-sectors (politicoeconomic, socio-religio-cultural and STI). Analysis showed that the key issues were more related to STI than the other two sub-sectors. Based on this finding, the third questionnaire was sent to the respondents to interrogate the extent to which the key issues were attributable to poor STI adoption and to which STI adoption could fix them.
The answer options for the questions in the second and third questionnaires were arranged on a scale of "great extent" (scale 4), "good extent" (scale 3), "average extent" (scale 2) and "low extent" (scale 1). The data were arranged in a frequency table and subjected to factor analysis, to obtain the factor scores/weights. Factor weight was obtained as the quotient of the frequency score and 400.

III. RESULTS
Twenty-eight (28) factors suggested by respondents for the failure of government efforts geared towards food security were predominance of smallholder subsistence farming, use of rudimentary tools, unimproved varieties of seeds and other inputs, traditional storage and preservation practices, deficit of marketing infrastructure, dependence on rain-fed agriculture, weak institutions, insecurity, leadership ineptitude, poor administration of justice, inadequate infrastructure, unsupportive macro-economic environment, poor basic health, poor basic education, business-unfriendly environment, policy summersault, abandonment of projects, poor release of project funds, lack of patriotism, corruption, poverty, greed, crime, nepotism, tribalism, mediocrity, cronyism, and sycophancy. The first 6 ( Table 1) automatically appeared on the factor analysis table as having factor scores above the universal minimum benchmark of 0.4, thereby proving that the factors were significant and were the key issues. The other 22 factors were, therefore, considered insignificant. Table 2 shows the factor scores for the extent fixing the key issues could address the four dimensions of food security. All the factor scores were above the universal minimum benchmark score of 0.40, showing that each of the key issues could address each of the four dimensions of food security.  Source: SPSS Table 3 shows the frequency scores for relatedness of the key issues to selected development sub-sectors (politicoeconomic, socio-religio-cultural and STI). STI had the highest frequency scores for each of the key issues, showing they all belonged to STI development sub-sector more than the other two sub-sectors. Table 3 also shows the factor weights for the relatedness of the key issues to selected development sub-sectors. STI had the highest factor weight for each of the key issues, showing they were related to STI development sub-sector more than the other two sub-sectors.  Table 4 shows the factor scores for the extent the key issues were attributable to poor STI adoption. The factor scores were all above the universal minimum benchmark score of 0.4, showing that all the key issues were attributable to poor STI adoption.  Table 5 shows the factor scores for the extent STI adoption could solve the problems associated with the key issues. The factor scores for STI adoption were all above the universal minimum benchmark score of 0.4, showing that STI adoption could solve the problems associated with each key issue. Discussion Since the key issues were determined by statistical factorization of the suggestions from top expert theoreticians and practitioners in food policy and production, they were regarded as most credible, and are briefly discussed below. 4.1Predominance of smallholder subsistence farming Njoku (2000) submits that farms below 10 ha still account for over 95% of agricultural production in Nigeria. This is predicated on land fragmentation which still holds sway, especially in South-east Nigeria, where customary inheritance laws operate. Labour-intensive smallholder subsistence farming promotes extensification to use more farmers, more land and other resources to produce less food with attendant costs to the environment. On the other hand, mechanized farming promotes intensification to use less number of farmers and resources to produce more food. Seventy-five (75%) of the world's poorest people derive their livelihood from farming small plots of land about the size of a football field. Agricultural mechanization will help the small farmers in developing countries to increase production and sell more crops to combat global hunger and poverty (Drake, 2013). Aditya (2020) submits that mechanization of agriculture and farming process applies machines to work on land for agricultural production. Mobile mechanization attempts to replace animal power with machine power, while stationary mechanization aims at reducing the drudgery of certain operations which have to be performed either by human labour or by a combined effort of human beings and animals. Thus, mechanization may be partial (only a part of the farm work is done by machine) or complete (animal or human labour is completely dispensed with by power-supplying machines).According to Ndubuisi (2019), benefits of agricultural mechanization include reduction of manual labour drudgery, food sufficiency, foreign exchange generation through exportation of excess produce, employment generation through improved youth participation in agricultural activities, longer shelf-life of produce through improved preservation and packaging, among others.Emami, Almassi, Bakhoda and Kalantari (2018) submit that agricultural mechanization is the key to food security in developing countries. STI and its adoption supply the machinery for mechanized farming to produce more food with less inputs, but are hampered by land fragmentation which promotes smallholder subsistence farming characterized by a vicious cycle of low productivity, low income and low investment or poverty. This poverty or lack of investible fund ensures that technologies are not adopted. Smallholder subsistence farming needs to be jettisoned for STI-driven mechanized farming (Emamiet al, 2018).

Use of rudimentary tools
Even in the era of 4 th Industrial Revolution, most Nigerian farmers still use traditional hand-tools (hoe, cutlass, pick-axe, shovel, etc.) for agricultural practice. Ogundele (2019) asserts that adoption of STI replaces rudimentary tools with machines to enable massproduction of food for teeming population. Use of machines produces food that is affordable to people of all socio-economic statuses. Eighty years ago, 25% of disposable income was spent on food. Today, it hovers around 10% in Canada and the U.S.the lowest in the world. Therefore, mechanized agriculture, which relies heavily on machines (STI adoption), is the way to go.

Use of unimproved varieties of seeds and other inputs
So far, crop yields are marginal, compared to the potentials, because the improved varieties of seeds and other inputs are not used. For example, maize yields in Nigeria are less than 2 tons/ha on average, compared to greater than 9 tons/ha in the USA that drive agricultural production with STI adoption. Okojie (2019) opines that Nigeria needs to adopt STI techniques to provide improved varieties of seeds and other inputs to ensure bumper harvest corresponding to the potentials of rich agricultural environment. Such STI techniques are tissue culture, use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to produce genetically modified foods (GMFs), among others.

Traditional storage and preservation practices
Absence of storage and preservation facilities predispose half of fruits and vegetables to loss to postharvest rot and pest attack, in addition to field losses (Eneh, 2011). According to Odumade (2017), STI supplies appropriate chemicals for pests control measures and preservation of agricultural yields, and needs to be adopted to solve Nigeria's issues of agricultural field and postharvest losses.

Deficit of marketing infrastructure
Marketing infrastructure, such as network of feeder roads and railways, are not only deficit but the available ones are often in appalling conditions of rapid decay amidst deficient maintenance culture. Electricity power supply is irregular and in very short supply duration, where These facilities are products of STI and can be remedied by STI adoption. Therefore, STI adoption will take care of the daunting challenges to Nigeria's agricultural production. This is in line with the report of Matemilola and Elegbede (2017).

Dependence on rain-fed agriculture
Dependence on rain-fed agriculture is still the vogue in Nigeria and other African countries. Sachs (2008) submits that irrigation problem in Africa can be solved by rainwater harvesting and micro-irrigation driven by STI for dry season crop production.

Implications of findings for development
Since fixing the key issues could address the four dimensions of food security, all the six key issues are related more to STI than to the other development subsectors, all the key issues are attributable to poor STI adoption, and STI adoption can fix the key issues, it can be asserted that STI and its adoption are pivotal to Nigeria's quest for food security. This finding is externally validated by the report of Senor and Singer (2009) on Israel's experience which shows that agriculture ought to be 95% STI and 5% physical labour. Relying on the universities and R&D institutions to generate and transfer knowledge that increases productivity and yield, Israel has used STI to conquer their many natural disadvantages to emerge as a leading food net exporter. NASEM (2017) reports that the U.S.A. employs STI to respond to challenges and USAID focuses on STI to improve development outcomes.
Adoption of STI will address the four dimensions of food security in Nigeria by ensuring (1) availability of sufficient amount of food through the provision of machines and technology for mechanized food production to keep per capita food production high at all times; (2) stability of food supply by provision of chemicals and techniques to preserve/store produced food and to supplement available food through imports if necessary; (3) accessibility to the available food through production of food that is affordable to all income levels at all times, culturally appropriate, and from sources that are environmentally sound and just, as well as address infrastructure deficits, such as feeder roads, for effective distribution and marketing of food; and (4) utilization of food with adequate nutrition through provision of scientific means of procurement, ingestion and digestion, education and health. Adopting STI to functionalize public policies, strategies, programmes and projects for boosting agricultural production for the attainment of food security will enhance good feeding and health for the population, supply of raw materials for local use and export, growth of foreign reserves through export of raw materials, ease of financing (from rich foreign reserves) food import to supplement local production, transfer of productive resources (investable surpluses of capital and labour) to other sectors of the economy for economic development of the country, value addition through effective value chain management, revenue improvement through payment of taxation, diversification that averts the vagaries of price fluctuation of the nation's monolithic oil economy, and provision of remunerative employments.

Conclusion
Six key issues behind the failure to achieve food security in Nigeria have been established as predominance of smallholder subsistence farming, use of rudimentary tools, unimproved varieties of seeds and other inputs, traditional storage and preservation practices, deficit of marketing infrastructure, and dependence on rain-fed agriculture. They were found to be related more to STI development sub-sector than to other selected sub-sectors. Each of them was attributable to poor STI adoption and can be fixed by STI adoption. Fixing them was able to address the four dimensions of food security. Thus, poor STI adoption begets the key issues which can be fixed by STI adoption for agricultural production for food security. Evolving STI trend for mechanized agricultural production, storage system and preservation, transport and marketing of agricultural products is imperative for addressing the nagging food insecurity in Nigeria. STIdriven agricultural production will turn Nigeria from food insecure to a food secure nation. Therefore, STI adoption is recommended for Nigeria's march to food security.