The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has launched a N200 billion Guaranteed Minimum Price Programme to stabilise food prices and protect farmers from losses under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Nigerian Government.
Speaking at the inauguration of the programme in Abuja, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Ayo Sotinrin, said the initiative would provide a price floor for farmers producing selected grains and other commodities.
Sotinrin explained that the programme was designed to support farmers, stabilise commodity prices and protect consumers and processors from sharp increases in food prices.
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“I need to say that it is a programme for all farmers in Nigeria to benefit from.
“The Bank believes that, with the little that we have, we should be able to aggregate at least over half a million tones of grains which hundreds of thousands of people are going to benefit from and it means that over 11.5 million households will be affected by this,” Sotinrin disclosed.
He said the solution to depressed prices was the Guaranteed Minimum Price Mechanism, explaining that farmers who had produced maize during the 2025 dry and wet seasons would receive a floor price, with the government providing N350,000 per tonne through the Bank of Agriculture.
“When the Bank releases the grains to the market, we release it at a subsidised price, between 380,000 to 390,000 naira per tonnes,” Sotinrin explained.
According to Sotinrin, the programme was open to genuine farmers across the country, with plans to aggregate more than 500,000 tonnes of grains.
He maintained that the commodities would be stored through the Nigerian Commodity Exchange and released into the market when prices rose sharply, thereby creating a mechanism for food price stabilisation.
“The government will give 350,000 Naira per tonne through the Bank of Agriculture. However, it doesn’t stop there. It goes into warehouses that are managed by the exchanges, the Nigerian Commodity Exchange being a major partner, where they now issue warehouse receipts after they’ve evaluated and they’ve done all the checks to ensure that it puts the right quantity of maize that you said you’d be able to bring at the right specification,” Sotinrin explained.
The programme would initially cover maize, sorghum and soya beans, with farmer aggregation companies expected to bring produce closer to the formal market and ensure payments reached farmers.
For his part, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Commodity Exchange, Anthony Atuchi, said the exchange had warehouses across the six geopolitical zones, including community and farm-gate facilities.
On commodity grading and price discovery, Atuchi affirmed that the infrastructure would support transparent commodity grading, warehousing, price discovery and market access, while enabling farmers to access finance and return to production.
Also speaking, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Muhammad Magaji, said farmers had long advocated a guaranteed minimum price to encourage continued production.
He commended the Nigerian Government for providing farmers with inputs at the right time and in the right quantity, stating that the new programme would give farmers greater confidence to remain in production.
“Honestly speaking, I want to congratulate you, and I want to tell you that we will work together for the success of the programme. Even those who are doubting the government, doubting the Bank of Agriculture, with this now, they will be comfortable, they will be assured that we are on the right track,” Magaji added.
Under the initiative, the Bank of Agriculture would operate the Guaranteed Minimum Price Programme as a revolving and sustainable mechanism designed to support farmers while helping to moderate food prices for consumers across Nigeria.
