Key messages

• Countrywide: For the 2023 lean season, 24.8 million (13.0% of the analyzed population or 1 out of 8 individuals) are in Cadre Harmonise’ (CH) Phase 3 (Crisis) or above and in need of urgent food assistance in 26 states and the FCT; of these, around 1,108,193 people will be in the emergency phase (Phase 4) across Adamawa, Borno, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara states unless conscious and intensive efforts are made to sustain humanitarian support and interventions for livelihood recovery and resilience.
• Persistent insecurity in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY), rising banditry in other northern States (Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger), naira redesign policy, and soaring prices of staple foods and basic commodities limited households’ access to food.
• In addition, the 2022 flood and the slow post-COVID-19 economic recovery, combined with high fertilizer prices, limited yield – particularly in areas worst hit by the floods. Depletion of household stocks in the coming months remains a serious concern, which will impact food consumption and nutrition status.
• Households are also constrained by limited primary health care services and access to safe and potable water, which negatively impacts nutrition status.
• In the BAY states, 4.3 million people will need food assistance in the 2023 lean season, of which 522,367 will be in the ‘emergency phase’ (Phase 4). Food and nutrition insecurity were exacerbated by the 2022 floods, which limited food production. Transportation costs and increases in fuel prices further constrained households’ ability to access food.
• In the northwestern states of Sokoto, Katsina, and Zamfara, about 4.3 million will need food assistance in the 2023 lean season. Over the last two lean seasons, the number of food-insecure people in these three states has increased drastically, more than doubling since the 2021 lean season.