Nigeria’s government has urged investors, financial institutions, and development partners to collaborate in building a resilient food system, promoting climate-smart agriculture, and expanding sustainable production to unlock the vast potential of Africa’s largest agricultural market.
Speaking at the Nigeria–United Kingdom Investment Forum in London, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, highlighted the country’s strong agricultural prospects, citing its diverse agro-ecological zones and competitive production capacity.
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He noted that agriculture employs nearly 70% of Nigeria’s workforce, contributes over 24% to GDP, and remains a key driver of inclusive growth, rural livelihoods, and jobs for women and youth.
Kyari added that Nigeria has the natural endowments to support a wide range of value chains, including rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, sesame, sorghum, and horticultural crops, stressing that many globally consumed commodities can be competitively produced within the country.
He, however, warned that climate change—evidenced by prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, flooding, and desertification—continues to threaten agricultural productivity and food security, underscoring the need for climate-resilient farming systems.
The minister further noted that achieving this transition requires significant funding, as current investment levels remain insufficient to build resilient food systems, deploy climate-smart technologies, and scale innovation across agricultural value chains.
“While public financing remains essential, unlocking the scale of investment required will depend on stronger participation from private capital and development finance partners.
“Access to finance is a major constraint for farmers across Nigeria, significantly limiting the productivity across the sector. Despite the prevalence of credit schemes across the country, total credit accessible by farmers is still significantly limited, reaching 3.4trillion as at April 2025. Whilst this value may look significant, it is less than 4% of the contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP.” Kyari said.
The Minister revealed that to address these challenges, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a national state of emergency on food security in July 2023, shortly after taking office. A year later, Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) to ensure alignment of interventions across all three tiers of government.
He mentioned that the Federal Government has also initiated several programmes, including:
– Distribution of solar-powered irrigation pumps to smallholder farmers to promote all-season farming and improve water efficiency.
– Development of climate-resilient seed systems, including drought-tolerant sorghum and millet, resilient cassava varieties, improved maize hybrids, and flood-tolerant rice varieties.
– National Agricultural Mechanization Programme (NAMP), championed by the Bsnk of Agriculture which has procured 2,000 tractors and over 9,000 farm implements and spare parts to improve land preparation efficiency and support climate-resilient farming systems.
– Nigeria Postharvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST), aimed at modernizing post-harvest ecosystems, strengthening produce handling systems, expanding storage infrastructure, and improving market linkages.
– Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative, connecting agricultural production enclaves with processing zones for value addition, storage, logistics, and market access.
He disclosed that to reduce investment risk and mobilise greater private capital, the Federal Government is strengthening institutions such as the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), the Nigeria Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), and the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC).