In northeast Nigeria, years of conflict, climate shocks, and shrinking humanitarian aid have left millions displaced and facing acute food insecurity, with women and children bearing the harshest burdens. Yet locally driven solutions—like poultry farming and climate-smart irrigation—are proving that resilience, self-reliance, and food security can grow even in the midst of crisis, if scaled with genuine institutional commitment.
Displacement: Life in unfamiliar terrain
On September 23, 2023, the chilling reality of a raging 16-year armed conflict hit close to home for Adama Shettima. After an attack on her hometown in Mandara Garau, Biu local government area of Borno state, which claimed her husband’s life, Adama fled with her seven children to Biu town. They took nothing with them but the clothes on their backs. There, Adama struggled to get by, relying on the kindness of strangers to take care of her family.
For Adama, the displacement was jarring.
The abrupt switch from having a steady source of income from farmland and livestock to not being sure where the next meal would come from made life difficult. Fuelled by the goodwill of some community members hosting her, Adama managed to retain a semblance of her former life by farming small patches of land that yielded rice, soya beans, and maize.
It wasn’t enough.
“The fact that is that I had no source of income, and the increased cost of living made things very difficult for me,” she said.
It is mirrored by millions of people across Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the three states that have been the hardest hit since the armed conflict in northeast Nigeria began. Efforts by humanitarian actors to help alleviate the situation have been characteristically impeded by access and security challenges. In recent times, dwindling funding from the donor community has only underscored the imbalance of burgeoning needs and shrinking resources. There is an urgent demand for locally centred and driven solutions to address the various humanitarian challenges. Systems and structures that put the power of choice and sustainability in the hands of communities affected by the conflict should drive humanitarian conversations and the ICRC is already at the helm of this by way of its community generated and driven interventions.
A Conflict with No End in Sight and Growing Hunger
For the past 12 years, the humanitarian needs in this region have remained immense: emergency aid for newly displaced people, shelter, medical care, clean water, and food. But over the last three years, the crisis has taken a more dangerous turn.
The erratic cycles of climate change have affected crop yields, with the region experiencing devastating floods and inconsistent weather patterns. Flooding incidents late last year affected more than 9.2 million people, submerged 1.6 million hectares of farmland, and potentially destroyed cereal yields (including maize, sorghum, and rice) amounting to 1.1 million tonnes, enough to feed approximately 13 million people for a year. In financial terms, the potential cereal crop losses amounted to almost trillions of naira.
In addition, intensified attacks across the states have led to multiple displacements and interrupted livelihoods. Between 2010 and 2015, in Borno state alone, sorghum output plunged by 82%, rice by 67%, and millet by 55% as farmers fled or were killed and fields abandoned. This situation is exacerbated by other factors that worsen the conflict’s effect, such as declining water levels in Lake Chad and desertification, which have undermined fishing, pastoralism, and irrigation-dependent farming communities. Reform-driven policies, such as the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira, which are widely reported to have led to high inflation rates, create layers of vulnerability for affected communities who find it challenging to access agricultural inputs at affordable prices.
Consequently, food security is currently severely threatened.
According to the Cadre Harmonisé report, about 33.1 million Nigerians face high levels of acute food insecurity this lean season. By March 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had classified 30.6 million people across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory in Crisis Phase (CH Phase 3) or worse. In the northeast alone, about 4.6 million people may require emergency food assistance between June and August 2025.
Women and children are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Malnutrition among children is rising alarmingly, with some states reporting a 100% increase in cases in 2024 alone.
Shrinking humanitarian space, growing needs
The situation is not helped by the current shrinking humanitarian space, occasioned by cuts in foreign assistance, which have significantly reduced the reach and impact of humanitarian interventions. This has disrupted nutrition programs run by several humanitarian actors in the states of the northeast, increasing the vulnerabilities of children in displacement camps. In a region where the challenges of accessing hard-to-reach places and funding gaps have followed the dogged steps of humanitarian workers, the current humanitarian landscape looks bleak.
The ICRC is one of the few humanitarian actors at the forefront of this shrinking space, which has always been rife with overwhelming humanitarian needs. In addition to scaling up operational support to the Damaturu Specialist Hospital, in May this year, the ICRC completed and handed over an 80-bed capacity nutrition stabilization centre to the Yobe state government, the largest in the state. The centre serves as a reference point for all severely acute malnourished children and is expected to scale up health services to some of the hardest-hit local government areas, like Damaturu, Gujba, Geidam, Bade, and Yusufari, ensuring timely and sustained care for those most at risk of malnutrition.
Poultry Farming: A Local Solution to Hunger
Adopting an integrated approach that seeks to create a sustainable environment, the ICRC also undertakes several interventions to establish food-secure systems for affected communities.
One of such interventions is the Poultry Value Chain Support Project. Targeting 75 small poultry farmers and two poultry value chain vendors in Damaturu, Yobe State, and Biu, Borno State, the project has primarily been successful in improving food security by increasing the availability of eggs and poultry, thereby strengthening local access to protein and reducing the rates of malnutrition.
Adama was one of the farmers who received this intervention. Speaking on the impact of the project, she says,
“I received 110 chickens on October 29, 2024. They started laying eggs in November, and by January 2025, I was collecting more than three crates of eggs per day. I now sell at least three crates of eggs per day. In this community, I am the primary source of eggs. I am unable to meet the demand yet.”
For Adama, being independent is the least of her victories.
“Now, I can pay our bills, and I can also assist others with problems within my family.”
Working with volunteers from the Nigerian Red Cross Society, the project trained poultry farmers who had a track record of commitment to similar businesses in poultry production, disease control, nutrition, hygiene, business skills, marketing, and climate-smart practices. In addition, each farmer received 1.87 million naira in three phases, covering the renovation of poultry housing and initial feed, the purchase of 110 point-of-lay pullets, and vaccine and feeding costs until production commenced. The two vendors received 2 million naira each for feed supply, cold chain equipment, and business support.
Abubakar Idris Ali, a vendor in Damaturu, attests to the project’s ripple effect on his business and the community. Before receiving training from the ICRC, he managed a shop selling medicines for poultry and livestock and struggled to stock his shop.
“The training and funding I received helped me to increase and expand the variety of my stock. It also exposed me to more customers”, he says. “This poultry project has brought changes to our town. Previously, sourcing eggs in Damaturu was challenging. We imported most of our eggs from Jos. Since the start of the project, I have stopped buying eggs from Jos.”
The project has been largely successful, with data showing a 30% increase in household income among supported farmers. Consequently, it has led to the creation of related jobs (poultry attendants, transporters) and the provision of manure for vegetable farmers. Additionally, farmers and vendors are in the process of establishing business associations that will cater to their needs and enhance access to local markets.
Farming Through Crisis: Samaila’s Story
However, poultry is just one component of the ICRC’s agricultural resilience programs.
In Usur, Yobe State, farmer Samaila Audu faced a different kind of pressure when relatives displaced from Maiduguri came to live with him.
“Some of my relatives were displaced from Maiduguri. I had to host them here,” Samaila said. “This affected me negatively because our food consumption increased significantly. My overall household bills increased. To help them provide for themselves, I also had to share my land with them. This reduced the amount of land I could cultivate and my annual harvest. I used to harvest up to 100 bags of rice a year. I now do about 70.”
Samaila turned to dry-season farming to rebuild his income, using drip irrigation equipment and training provided by the ICRC.
“The drip irrigation materials helped me grow vegetables profitably on a small plot of land. I no longer need to use a pump, so I don’t spend anything on petrol. This is saving me money.”
He now grows lettuce, carrots, onions, and cabbage, harvesting every four weeks for six months.
“Each month, I earn about ₦300,000 from my crops. This is an invaluable addition to my income.”
His experience reflects how climate-smart agriculture is not only helping individuals adapt to displacement and resource strain but also creating entirely new income streams.
The evidence clearly demonstrates that climate-smart approaches are necessary. We’ve seen how poultry farming and drip irrigation create opportunities from the adversity of displacement, creating new income streams while building food security and community self-reliance. But these proven, locally grounded solutions remain frustratingly isolated when they should be the foundation of a regional development strategy. Policymakers, development agencies, and local governments must stop treating successful pilot projects as feel-good stories and start scaling them as the systematic response in the northeast desperately needs. The blueprint exists, and the communities are ready. The additional layer necessary is the institutional commitment to expand these life-changing approaches from scattered success stories to the comprehensive, climate-resilient transformation the region demands.
This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence and may be republished with attribution.
Eleojo Esther Akpa is an editor and analyst for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Nigeria.
