When climate shocks reduce harvests, children pay the price: Evidence from Nigeria

By Mulubrhan Amare and Bedru BalanaJune 5, 2026

Key takeaways

• A study in Nigeria links climate shocks such as droughts and extreme weather to increased rates of stunting and other poor outcomes for children’s health.
• Associated declines in farm production affect children’s diets and health during a critical period of development, with impacts strongest for vulnerable households.
• Policy action to address this connection is urgently needed, including strengthening climate-resilient agriculture and improving market access.

Nigeria is facing mounting climate variabilities that threaten food production, livelihoods, and child nutritional status. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, floods, and droughts are reducing agricultural productivity, particularly among smallholder farming households that depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture. Our new paper, published in The Journal of Development Studies, demonstrates that these climate-induced agricultural productivity shocks significantly worsen child nutritional status in Nigeria by reducing food availability and household income. As agricultural production declines, families consume less diverse and less nutritious diets, increasing the prevalence of child stunting (low height for age and sex) and other poor anthropometric outcomes.

These findings have major implications for Nigeria’s development agenda and more broadly for low- and middle-income countries. They show how climate variabilities present challenges for food security, diets, and nutrition. Without urgent and coordinated policy action, the study suggests, climate-related agricultural shocks could reverse progress in reducing poverty and malnutrition and undermine long-term economic growth.

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