 Thanks for staying with us. With over 2 million Nigerians displaced and more than 600 killed by floods, more people at risk of economic hardship as the situation bites harder in the country. College services have been severely affected due to inaccessible roads, leaving millions of business owners also at risk. This is the plight of Nigerians who depend on the goat supply chain in the country for their livelihood. The flooding across Nigeria has left many rural communities waterlogged. Farmers fleeing the natural disaster have given up their properties and farm investments, prioritising their survival. Combined with the already adverse effects of insecurity and climate change on agricultural outputs, observers say the crisis will push the country faster towards food insecurity. Today we're discussing the state of the country's food supply chain. Please let's hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation, send an SMS or WhatsApp to 0818 038 4663, tweet us at Weishio Africa with the hashtag Weishio. So food insecurity ladies, what does that mean to you in actual reality? In the real sense of it. I mean just in layman's terms, we know that now. Tomatoes is no longer as cheap as it used to be. Then we ask questions like what happened, why do you now have four piece of onions for 500 naira and all of that. And then the guys telling you then tell you, Madam, the trailer they bring down come now, many of them they come again. You know things like that. So I think that's what food insecurity is in layman's terms in Nigeria. I like your layman's term. Because my one is even more, is there anything like much more lay? So first you guys enjoy that I see food that I say I love to eat. You're wondering why we started this show with a lot of food vibe. This is the reason because if you're thinking food, because of the conversation, but I like that we have an expert in that area so that he can explain that chain. Because most of us just think of what we eat in the immediate but there's a lot of processes that go to production and everything from the seeding to the manure to everything. It's a lot. And we actually from the little I know from in agriculture and those I've spoken to, we are not doing good. Actually even in the supply and logistics chain, that area infrastructure is a problem. So I'm sure that our guests will really have such an infrastructure because even when you have the produce, how you move them, how you store them, a lot of people don't even have the fund to be able to build the kind of storage you need to then store for a longer period of time. It's more like we're doing hand to mouth when we are... And whatever we can't eat is a sport. There's a lot of wasteage. So there is a lot that needs to be done and I'm glad that we're having this conversation with you so that I can continue to eat food. So exactly. Wastage is a huge problem, right? Because even at the point, like you said, logistics is one side of it, but even when things are in season, the amount of tomatoes that go to waste, the amount of oranges that go to waste, all of these things are not being processed. So if you take tomatoes, for example, which is probably our most staple fruits because they say fruits are not a vegetable, you find that a lot of it goes to waste, but we're importing tomato puree, tomato paste. So we just don't have the capacity or we don't have the infrastructure to be able to produce, to process these things, right? Because the production and then the processing and the storage, like you said, are all issues. So I'm also looking forward to learning a lot from our guests today because the most important part of this thing is that it hits our pockets. It does. You know, all of these things, as much as it seems like we're so far removed from it, in the reality, it comes down to us to a bunch of plantains, it's now 8,000 Naira, when it used to be 2,000 Naira every year. I think I saw a research, I don't know if it's this, it has to be last year, that said that most Nigerians spend about 70% or 80% of what they earn on food. So that's a lot. Well, double digit inflation. Let's see what our guest is going to educate us about. Adebayo Adeleke is a renowned supply chain geopolitics and leadership expert. He has profound knowledge and expertise in the fields of emerging markets, risk management and security, supply chain management and logistics, leadership, geopolitics, diversity and inclusion. Adebayo is also a seasoned combat veteran of the United States Army with 20 years of service. Thank you so much for joining us, Adebayo. How are you on the show? Pleasure. At a backstage listening to you, you guys have really cracked me up. It's been an awesome experience just listening to you and sharing your experiences. So I'm glad to be here. Awesome. So in our own layman's terms, we've tried to define what we understand by food insecurity. So we'd like you to tell us from the context of the supply chain of our food today in Nigeria, can you give us a quick summary of what that supply chain looks like and how it contributes to the larger problem of food insecurity? So we define supply chain movement of goods and services from the point of origin to where they to their decimated consumer and then you extend it to then the particular material reenters they had to get the reverse part of the logistics, the reverse supply chain. When it comes to the essence of the food industry, it's a completely different ball game because of the sensitivity of it. So you can actually define food security in two terms. The securing the food supply chain and the value chain, the pipeline story and also the ability to be able to provide food when it's necessary. I think that is what resonates with a lot of people more. How can I get my food when I need it without waiting in line? I think that is a huge element that is the food security that we talk about. So defining food supply chain is all supply chain processes from the production, from cradle to grave, let me put it that way, from cradle to grave of every food item on our table from spices to tuber crop to grains, name it to milk, to fresh fruit and vegetables so all these things over there. So let's look at Nigeria and I just, can I go on? Yes please. Nigeria is very unique we call it the center of gravity of Africa because there is a lot not because of our kind of combination but also because of our population and because of our geopolitical kind of geopolitical combination as well because Nigerian geopolitical landscape is quite unique and quite different. So many ethnic groups, I think in Nigeria which is our what now. But there is a unique part of it to produce so much food in different part of the country so there is an equal need for all Nigerians all from different geopolitical zones to actually work together to make Nigeria to have secured food pipeline within Nigeria but what we're experiencing right now on a macroeconomics standpoint the inflation is one part but there are other things that actually content why food insecurity at large one of Nigeria's number one problem we have the current flooding issue which is climate change depending on who you're talking to or who is you know whatever their position is on climate change if they believe it in or not but flooding is real drought is real I mean, flooding is what we've seen today tomorrow might be drought and all these things actually make food scarcity a reality and once food scarcity enters the equation you can be rest assured that food security is at large so right now what is going on in Nigeria a lot of locations has been flooded a lot of people are fleeing their farmland the immediate impact is not going to be felt yet until the water is because there are several things to immediate impact now people are fleeing we're really seeing on TV that's one part and then we're going to have part where the flooding dies down and then all these other second and totaled effect of it start coming out how to rejuvenate those farmlands the government has to actually pouring a lot of support for local farmers to get in there we have a lot of belts in Nigeria we have the Tuber Belt, we have the Green Belt all these things are currently being hampered we're still kind of recovering from insecurity the real challenge of terrorism, banditry and harassment that is still plaguing those zones there's a lot of report I read about how some of these insecurity and I wrote on it extensively about how these insecurity has really hampered a lot of production out of Nigeria Nigeria is not producing as they used to and now these environmental challenges on one point and then these are natural disasters let's talk about there's more made disaster and there's natural disaster so let's talk about the natural disaster of drought and flooding first that's one thing that you really can't control actually depending on you talking to climate change you can't control it to a larger extent and then we have the man made disaster of insecurity that's one now let's talk about the one we can control which is infrastructure 70% of foods in Nigeria 70% of cost of food in Nigeria is attributed to logistics so now let's look at it during the permutation and combination kind of thing in mathematics if 70% of food is attributed to logistics and the cost of logistics let's look at the amount people are buying fuel, the amount they're buying diesel the amount the mechanics are charging for repair parts most of these repair parts actually comes from outside the country they have to do dollar exchange they have to do clearing at the port just look at how now kind of put all those things together for you to actually repair a truck to get it on the road that's one part if anything happens the tires that it's being it's not locally produced they're actually being shipped so the issue of dollar exchange affects logistics and then of course all these people are going to spread this cost can you hear me sure I can I feel like you are in the middle of it so you have a lot to talk about so let's not just continue talking about it and then lost people in the process because I think one of the purpose of this conversation is for listeners to also see where they can come in and how they can begin to raise these conversations as we even get closer to the elections right, ask the right questions I like that natural disasters and man-made and even before this flooding came up we've had the one you mentioned like insecurity because I know of an agri tech that had to pull out their sources from a lot of farmlands in the north because of the unrest with the headsmen and all that and that happened the impact was on ground before we got here now so if you have to really look at the states of the Niger food supply chain like we're talking about where would you say we are and where can we begin to do the right thing because it is a disaster we can go on and on I'm sure that in the next two to five years we'll begin to see the real impact I don't think we're seeing it yet so how can we begin to do the right thing and what exactly is the stage right now if you're going to put a percentage on it if I will put a percentage on it I will say it's about 20% Nigeria is really below and below the bar if you're actually doing between 0 to 100 I think 20% of it there's a scarcity of food because there's several reasons we talk about the man-made let's not talk about the natural disaster let's talk about man-made that you actually alluded to prior to all these flooding and what you have insecurity that has been plaguing different geopolitical zones in Nigeria that's one part and then we have the infrastructure issue that is also plaguing Nigeria as well I've always been of opinion that Nigerian roads are not beautiful for prosperity it's just not it's just not beautiful for prosperity if you look at what has Nigerian experience in the past and what is currently experiencing now the roads are not making sense I don't know who actually map out these roads because the areas that have abundance hear me out here that has abundance of food do not have road access to the area that has scarcity it's an inventory issue Nigeria there are a lot of places that have abundance of food but there is no way to get these food out to places that have scarcity and that in itself says a lot about our infrastructure status of logistic infrastructure in Nigeria so all these roads that we are constructing where are they constructing it who is constructing and who is mapping these roads these are areas that we can make improvements to our logistical infrastructure and then if we can make this tweak in our logistical infrastructure we can actually raise our ability to feed the nation if we can actually have accessibility of roads from farmlands to where the market is and I think we can have a huge impact on these good roads I think that when you also talk about roads infrastructure wise or logistics wise is the road the most effective way to transport this food and this produce is that best practice because I know we are highly reliant on roads here in Nigeria but is it really best practice it depends the farthest point in Nigeria is about 1200 kilometers that I agree to my degree or what not so looking at the road network it's probably the most ideal and the most cost effective way to do it and I repeat barring good roads and secure road network barring is probably the most the cheapest and the most viable way because you have to also understand as well because when you are moving from one location to the other in Nigeria using the road network you actually have different hubs along the way so the road is the most viable and probably the most objective way to move stuff because you stop in different nodes delivering goods as you go along from one destination to the other so it's probably the best way to move this train but we know we are lacking a lot in the country and of course the last part is almost every big city in Nigeria has an airport right now but it's probably quite expensive to move certain type of food product except for fresh food and vegetables because of their pressurability and preferability still on infrastructure logistics now to be precise I remember when this administration when they came in and a lot of real work were being done one of the things that the Honorable Minister mentioned was this logistics for food and for a lot of things so looking at where we were before 2015 and where we are now do you think that the work that has been done in that sector will do anything or do we have a lot more work to be done there's still a lot more work to be done I believe a lot of road networks have been constructed plus for this current administration I believe they've poured so much amount of work on the road network but there's one thing to have a road network there's one thing to have a road network that has a large school corridor to it there's a completely different when you have a road network that leads to the other there's a certain road called farm to market roads just directly out from whatever farm that's meant to the market but when you have roads that are just connecting one city to the other then of what benefit is those roads to where you need them to be as one part so that's what I said, certain roads are being built but they are not their functionality on what they are supposed to do is quite off a bit and also let's talk about food storage as you move foods along especially for perishability you mentioned tomato earlier and on the show you move the cano state is the state that produces the most tomato in country and of course they move billions and billions of watt of Naira of tomato to Lagos on day to day basis there's a lot of I think last time I checked about 60% perishability rate because it's about 72 hours to move stuff from cano to Lagos of course and you know how they store this thing in basket by the time they get here it's all spoiled and what not so imagine we have a cold storage facility along those route as you move from cano to Kadunotua Buja to the southern part it can actually help a lot and those are the areas that the government can actually improve in different settlements and different road networks providing cold storage to be able to kind of expand the life support of this food product as we move them from one location to the other I think we'll take a short break now and when we come back we'll pick up the conversation from right here please stay with us so thank you for staying with us if you're just tuning in we're discussing the state of Nigeria's food supply chain with Adebayia Daily Care remember you can still join the conversation send us an SMS or whatsapp to 0818384663 tweet us at Wayshoe Africa one with the hashtag Wayshoe so Chunni do you have a question for us yeah I agree that there's been a great impact on food insecurity in Nigeria so far through like you rightly said in terms of infrastructure and storage but then let's come to technology how do you how do you think technology can be improved in order to help food insecurity or food security as the case may be in Nigeria I don't believe that technology is going to save us all since we missed our industrialization I believe the use of technology is going to help Africa and Nigeria most especially to leapfrog a lot of developmental processes in the area of food security in the area of targeting because there's one part of food security that we talked about which is making sure that we get food from one location to the other and reduce the effect of food security on the food value chain there's another part as well which is the health and safety of the food we are eating sometimes we don't we're pretty much used to it our markets are informal our tomatoes and pepper all over the street with flies and whatnot we're used to that, we have that immune system but there are certain things that we're immune against as well I think we can use the use of technology to track where these particular products are coming from in case there's an outbreak that is caused by food we can actually use this technology of blockchain and whatnot to be able to trace particular food is coming from there where we can isolate the particular problem and treat it as necessary instead of causing panic across the nation, that's one part as well in the area of logistics and supply chain traceability, tracking and especially in the use of the transportation as well I mean technology is going to help us but most especially the use of technology in farming I think a lot of farms in Nigeria now adopting precision farming ability to use data gathered over the course of time to be able to know exactly when to plant where to plant and the right of necessary fertilizer that needs to be put on the ground so that you can have a better use of the whatever product is being produced and these are how technology can help us kind of maximize what we already have going on it can help us kind of for better how do I put this it can help us kind of mask our issues for now the use of technology can help us mask our issues until we are able to we are able to actually fix some of the problems okay so I'd like to come back to when you talked about the distance and the road network from farms to the hubs where the food is needed, right today I think one of the states I think it's a binary state that has the tag the food basket of the nation and then we know that a lot of our core vegetables, tomatoes, onions all of those things also do come from the north is there a possibility that in being able to make the logistics given that we've also said that the road is the most effective currently is there a way to look at the farm land that we have right across the country to limit or reduce the distance with which this food has to travel seems to be so dependent on a particular region for our food now, what are your thoughts there absolutely it makes sense because there are posters it makes sense areas that are very good in this area let them produce as much as they can so that these areas can actually focus on other things but at the same time because of the issues we're having with security and the issue of logistics and supply chain it's hard to look at other alternatives which is to let other areas explore other particular foods to be planted if the Benwell or what you call the belt the fruit basket of Nigeria is not being able to satisfy the rest of the country because of security issues and issues of supply, logistics and whatnot yes, I think a viable option is to make sure that other areas that can produce might not be as optimal or must be as vast but at least you have some kind of diversification so we don't have every reliance on this particular part of the country absolutely, I think that is a viable option and it all should be always be part of a solution to be actually tabled okay, so I was also going to ask I think there's one part we haven't talked about which is pest and disease I'm not sure how much this has affected agriculture in Nigeria but I know this is the thing that can actually affect the food supply chain so what do you think is happening in those aspects? so, you know, we've talked about this that I have my opinions about this I don't know if it's founded or not but I know the reasons why a lot of these foods, the GMOs I know Nigerians don't like it at least people that are aware of it don't like GMOs but the reason why GMOs are quite attractive is because they are, they guide against the way they did the genome combination is to guide against some of these pests and whatnot that are very predominant in areas like this but I don't think, you know there are several ways to look at this it is pest and all these diseases are part of what's going to actually reduce our food production but at the same time, I think adduction of GMOs I don't want people to store actually I'm online so nobody can stone me here but I think it's a way to actually kind of step the issue of pesticide but if the government says we do not want GMOs on our farmlands then they should provide opportunities for farmers, subsidies for farmers, pesticides and whatnot so that they can be able to produce so-called non-GMO foods because I don't see the way out, to be honest with you I don't see the way out, the way our population is exploding is either we double up on the way we farm or we actually resolve to GMOs there's no way around it there's no way this particular farming methodologies can continue to sustain Nigerians if certain, some of these things are not a way to actually make a conversation and to produce food for the country so what would you say today I think the question Elsie asked about where we are versus where we should be I want to bring it home really to the government because if we look at the types of farmers that we have compared to other countries we don't see the huge sort of organized farming big organizations into farming like we have here in Nigeria it's still very much localized farming and a lot of farmers may not have the kind of funds or capital that they need to in fact go in the direction of GMO and things like that so what kind of support in an ideal scenario would you expect to see to start to address some of these challenges we've talked about today so I'm going to take it from a different angle that you guys probably haven't looked into which is our agricultural because if you look at it, Nigeria has a system in place that works if you look at a university system across Nigeria there is a lot of agricultural school I know there is one in Agelputa some across the nation the reason why these institutions are in place and that's what the US is actually using as well if you look at the United States the Midwest which is called the breadbasket of the United States most of those schools over there produce and what not they all farm lands and they all farm schools they're basically their main contingencies about agriculture and I think Nigeria actually adopted that template as well but unfortunately along the line something I don't know what happened but everybody is now doing whatever but those universities are actually in place to be able to address some of these issues about education and about farming and coming out with different methodologies to help the farmers in case we cannot tow the line of GM or yet but using those universities and those hogs to be that central and focal point for them to be able to improve their farming practices because we have the land and we have the expertise but those areas those schools and those hogs created by the government should help those local farmers and those co-ops creating cooperatives and what are they existing and sharing knowledge knowledge domain the knowledge sharing of different farm practices what has been done, what is applicable what is doable depending on the geopolitical space and the type of soil is it those things are very very they go a long way and I believe that having those institutions in place and those farm hogs will help kind of propagate those kind of education but agricultural university has talked to something else they've talked to something that they weren't supposed to be doing so I can attribute some of the challenges we have in our agricultural sector today to some of how we have turned those institutions into non-agric institutions I like that you answered my next question by the way you finalize because I was going to ask about the state of these institutions you mentioned I think the country we are trying to remember now is New Zealand and how they do agriculture and people even going there to sort of see the new technology so if you have these institutions you should be expecting some exchange program to be able to know what is really happening what's the new technology, how is it working but if you're just in your silos fighting as a strike anyway studying maybe three months in a year right so how does that really work so I want to talk solutions because I know we are getting to the end of this conversation I was looking up something a few days ago and I saw that yes this administration has talked about agriculture a lot but people have also talked about the fact that the way they handled the distribution of these funds in fact I think at some point they were giving them cash in hand you know it wasn't well structured you cannot necessarily trace the impact of that fund and see where to do better to really help them better so how would you begin to advise that we do distanced rights, it's not just about marking a certain amount of money because I know funding is a big deal even the government can't do it alone a lot of private sectors have come in but if you're going to do it and do it right assuming we have that funding how do we go about it, what's the best way do we have to collaborate with a body, the banks what would be the best way to ensure that training is done to maximise, of course full storage is also looked at and everything is just tied together to ensure that there is success in that area absolutely thank you for that wonderful question I think there is a bundle it's a bundle solution that needs to be done on the equipment capital that's one part on the banking and financing that's another part that's needed but from my standpoint and what I've observed as an outsider what I've observed as an Nigerian food supply chain is the fact that there are certain things on the exploitation as well because there's a lot that the farmers can regain but the farmers as I see them don't even know the worth of their own effort as I travelled to areas like the boomershow in the southwestern part of Nigeria and I have several farmers how do you come up with the price of your food, of your food product they don't know that's the baseline of everything if farmers do not feel appreciated if farmers do not understand how to actually attribute the cost of their labor to the look, these are much I'm selling it they can't even attribute the cost of their own labor or they can't even put all those costs together aggregate their costs that they use in farming that is a major problem I think the farmers education and empowering the farmers is the number one thing that we can do for Nigerian food everything else is going to be second on top of the effect of it when farmers start being empowered and have seen the essence of the agricultural value chain I think things are going to turn around over here when they go over there and say the price of a corn is $15 and that is it and across the board they are either from their co-op or their co-operative before a product comes from a farmer to a market often time it changes it touches about 20 hands non-value hands touches those products and that person bought it by the time you realize it 200 naira on top of nothing and what have they done to improve the value of the product absolutely nothing so I get it to empower the farmers and make sure that they understand the value chain of their product and also removing those non-value hands in the supply chain of the product we actually serve two things we empower the farmer people that are actually the consumers and also they are not breaking their bank to feed their family and also create an enabling environment for all other parts of their food supply chain if we can actually do that and these things are within our reach we don't even need government interventions for it the state, I mean we do need at some point to understand the state can actually help in educating the farmer that's number one thing, educating the farmers we can't do that enough most of the people that are touching up where people are actually getting fed is not the big farms it's the small farms the small small farms that won't feed in Nigeria not the big ones so we're fast coming to the end of the show I'd like to take one final question because I know that your area of expertise is not just Nigeria but Africa as a whole when it comes to supply chain whether you fall in the camp of people that think that Nigeria can never be well or you fall in the camp of people that's awesome the current administration has spoken over time a lot about the fact that agriculture has been their focus and they've indeed done well whether you agree or disagree I'd just like you to wrap up with us to tell us where do we fit in so if we were to run countries in Africa today with this whole supply chain and moving food around where would Nigeria fall? without 20% actually Nigeria is not even ranked exactly because the infrastructure does not support it if you look at Nigeria is not even ranked so we have Egypt, we have South Africa they have more matured supply chain infrastructure so for us to really be taking seriously we have to talk about supply chain training there's a lot there's a lot of games that goes into it but we are not where we used to be and we are not where we need to be we are just a walking progress as Nigerians and I think continuously having conversations like this cause on issues that are really kind of where people have different pain points it's how we move as I will move the needle and I think that the current administration has done a lot in kind of diversification it's far from the best but at least it's better than what we used to so we can only expect the next administration to pick it up from here and continue to improve on it but as long as we continue to move as long as we continue to make movement we are going to get it but where I don't will actually be a no-no so thank you for having me and you guys have been awesome and nice so thank you we certainly enjoyed having you on the show and we've learnt a lot and the question you just answered is the definition of drops mic but it's been great to have you on the show I think we have a few comments ladies yeah so this says greetings ladies how much has Nimet helped in predictions for rains to enable farmers to plan their food production so many farmers lost due to irregular abrupt stoppage of rains leading to so much loss that's from Benson I have this one from good evening my dear beautiful sisters of ways the character of a I think this might be an old one let me see yeah I think this might be an old message actually yes do we have one? this is the last question it's just to say we are not where we used to be we are not where we want to be but we don't have a long way to go and for a food loving nation there's a lot to be said and a lot to be done there but it has been an awesome conversation thank you so so much Elsie thank you Chinobu and thank you again to our guest before we go do ensure to follow us on instagram you can interact with us further drop a comment and most importantly follow all our social media engagements I remember to like, share, comment and invite your friends and family to watch us and follow us so if you missed today's quote again, civilization as it is learned today could not have evolved nor can it survive without an adequate food supply so we'll see you again on Monday at 8pm as we bring another great conversation to your screen have a great weekend enjoy thank you