Seeds and fertilizer are being delivered to more than a million farmers in Boko Haram-hit northeast Nigeria ahead of the rainy season to combat growing hunger and dwindling aid in a region threatened with famine, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The Islamist militants' bloody insurgency has prevented farmers from planting or harvesting crops for years in the northeast, where more than 5 million people need food aid and about 1.5 million are on the brink of famine, aid agencies say.

"Investing in agricultural assistance today will provide food for tomorrow, and can ensure people have a source of food even when they are cut off from other forms of aid," said Nourou Macki Tall of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).