Nigeria dreamed of a farming renaissance that would slash food bills and rival oil as its top export. It didn’t count on gun-toting herdsmen, heavy floods and a persistent Islamist insurgency.
That perfect storm of insecurity and poor planning has hobbled one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s flagship pledges -- to cut an annual $22 billion in food imports -- just as he gears up for elections in February. It’s prolonging the West African nation’s reliance on crude revenue, a downturn which sparked a 2016 recession.
