PRINCESS ETUK outlines progress and problems in the Nigeria agricultural sector under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, urging real action to help farmers and fix food security issues
As President Bola Tinubu marks his second year in office on May 29, 2025, the agricultural sector, which is central to his Renewed Hope Agenda, has experienced significant strides and challenges under the leadership of Minister Abubakar Kyari.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security was established to drive Nigeria’s economic diversification, reduce dependency on oil revenues, and achieve food self-sufficiency. Its primary objectives include enhancing agricultural productivity, ensuring food security, creating employment opportunities, and stimulating rural development.
While the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has made commendable strides under the current administration, it’s still largely hindered by persistent challenges.
Achievements
Since his appointment, minister Kyari has overseen substantial investments aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s agricultural landscape. In less than two years, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, under his leadership, has injected approximately N309bn into the national economy through multiple interventions, including large-scale support for input supply, farm mechanisation, livestock health, and farmer training. According to the records of the ministry, the investments have created over 60,000 jobs, particularly in rural communities, where agriculture remains a primary livelihood.
One of the ministry’s standout interventions is the Dry Season Farming Initiative, which was expanded to cover 500,000 hectares of farmland. Within this framework, over 118,000 hectares of wheat were cultivated across 15 states, an ambitious move that enabled farmers to grow during typically low-yield periods. The initiative significantly contributed to national food sufficiency and strengthened year-round farming culture.
The ministry also partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria to distribute free 2.15 million bags of fertiliser to farmers nationwide. This effort was crucial in helping smallholder farmers reduce input costs amid a volatile economy.
In the livestock subsector, the ministry administered over 14 million doses of vaccines and established modern animal health clinics across various zones, reinforcing disease prevention and resilience among Nigeria’s livestock population.
Kyari’s administration made a clarion call for a shift toward climate-smart agricultural practices, with particular focus on seed development, noting that agricultural stakeholders must try to develop seeds that are drought-resistant, heat-tolerant, and high-yielding.
The ministry also strengthened partnerships with academic and international research institutions to ensure that scientific breakthroughs and new technologies reach Nigerian farmers. At the same time, efforts to enhance extension services have been revitalised, enabling field officers to educate farmers on improved practices for irrigation, pest control, and sustainable land use.
Infrastructure development has also featured prominently in Kyari’s reform agenda. In the past year, the ministry has constructed over 77 kilometres of asphalt roads and 130 kilometres of rural earth roads to facilitate access to farms and markets.
In addition, solar-powered boreholes and streetlights have been installed in farming communities, improving not only agricultural operations but also the general living conditions in rural areas.
More than 20,000 farmers have been directly trained and supported in rural empowerment programmes under Kyari, with an intentional focus on youth and women. These training sessions covered agribusiness, financial literacy, and productivity-enhancing techniques – crucial tools for nurturing a new generation of commercial farmers.
In a bid to foster cohesive and inclusive planning, Kyari also inaugurated the Agricultural Sector Working Group, a multi-stakeholder platform that brings together public institutions and private actors. The group is tasked with aligning Nigeria’s agricultural development goals with broader national policies on food security and economic diversification.
Recognising the growing vulnerability of farmers to climate inconsistency and market volatility, the ministry has introduced agricultural insurance schemes and weather information services tailored to grassroots communities. These tools are designed to provide safety nets against unpredictable shocks while also making agriculture more attractive to investors and lenders.
Challenges
Despite ambitious plans and policy statements, Nigeria’s agricultural sector is reeling under a wave of challenges that threaten national food security and economic stability.
Food inflation has surged to alarming levels, crossing the 40 per cent year-on-year mark for almost a decade, leaving millions of Nigerians grappling with unaffordable staples. The steep rise in food prices is not just a function of market forces but also driven by a complex web of insecurity, poor infrastructure, and administrative bottlenecks.
In many parts of the country, farmers are increasingly unable to access or cultivate their lands due to rampant banditry, kidnapping, and communal conflicts. These security threats have decimated farming communities, disrupting production cycles and discouraging investment in the sector.
Compounding the problem is the smuggling of food items across borders, draining local supply chains and skewing market dynamics.
Infrastructure gaps further deepen the crisis. Poor rural road networks and the lack of efficient logistics systems continue to make it difficult to move produce from farms to markets. Even when harvests are successful, much of the food never reaches consumers.
Kyari acknowledged that one of the ministry’s core administrative tools, farmers’ database, is riddled with corruption and manipulation.
This flawed system has severely hindered the effective distribution of government support and agricultural interventions. Subsidised inputs like seeds, fertilisers, and machinery often fail to reach genuine farmers, undercutting the very goals of national food security and agricultural development.
Even when crops are successfully planted and harvested, post-harvest losses is another crisis that looms large. According to an estimate in a Vanguard report, up to 40 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural produce is lost annually. The reasons are poor storage facilities, lack of preservation technology, and insufficient transport infrastructure. This translates into billions of naira in wasted food and income, not to mention the added pressure it places on food prices.
Adding to the sector’s woes is the relentless impact of climate change. Flooding, erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and changing weather patterns have taken a heavy toll on agricultural productivity. Traditional planting and harvesting seasons have become unpredictable, with farmers often suffering devastating crop losses due to unseasonal weather events.
While the Federal Government and the ministry have introduced measures such as dry-season farming programmes, seed improvement initiatives, and mechanisation efforts, many of these remain limited in scale and delayed in implementation.
Experts speak
Chairman of the Competitive African Rice Forum, Nigeria, Peter Dama, in a review of the sector’s performance under Tinubu’s administration, noted that while the government had introduced several initiatives, the full impact is still unfolding.
“We’ve seen some aspects of achievements in terms of the agricultural sector. They have established the National Agricultural Fund. I think the fund is still working. Trying to see how they can reach out and provide financing to agriculture,” Dama said.
According to Dama, government-backed efforts in mechanisation and input distribution have also been initiated, though not fully implemented.
He said, “We have also seen the tractorisation. Where they had said they were bringing in thousands of tractors that would be distributed to farmers. We have heard of it. If it happens, that’s an achievement.
“Then, during the beginning of the season, we heard about fertiliser reaching the States for agriculture. We believe that will be distributed to a number of farmers.”
Dama also pointed to the ongoing work around Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, which are expected to enhance value-chain development if fully executed.
“Then, during this time, although the agri-processing zones have been on, the issue had been on, but I’ve heard that they are going to take it forward. They are not abandoning that. So, we believe that with the agri-processing zone, if it is taken on board and implemented, then states with specialised agricultural production would be able to work because special attention will be given to those sectors. Now, this is how far I may commend,” he added.
He further noted government interest in improving seed quality and nutrition, especially through rice fortification, which has gained support from development partners.
He noted, “He has also spoken about seeds because seeds are part of an area where it has been a challenge to our country. His government is also talking about increasing the nutritional value of food for people in the country. They have approved that rice should be used as a vehicle to reach out to people.
“There has been a lot of capacity building going around in the country by development partners, talking about rice fortification. That, again, is something that we are looking forward to. I believe that if done, it will be a good thing for us.”
However, Dama did not shy away from highlighting the deeply rooted problems plaguing the agricultural sector, particularly insecurity. While he acknowledged efforts to tackle the issue, he said more needs to be done.
He said, “The administration wouldn’t have had a lot of challenges, but one of the most important challenges is the insecurity. The insecurity is an inherited issue. It has gone beyond governments. So, on his own, it is like he is continuing with it. Has it been able to be reduced? Well, to some extent, we would say that he is addressing it because we have seen about the creation of farm rangers. The forest rangers and the rest, that they would be protecting farmers.
“We believe that there are a lot of things that are in the paper, and we hope that they will come to fruition.”
Dama was particularly critical of economic policy decisions such as the removal of fuel subsidies, import duty waivers, and the electricity tariff hike, all of which he said have aggravated hardship for farmers and undermined local production.
“Now, for challenges. As I said, security is still there. Then, the withdrawal of subsidies has led to inflation and has led to a lot of rising food prices. It is not just the fault of millers or farmers or anything. Because fuel has to do with every aspect of life. And if you remove the subsidy, then we believe that something should have been done to bring in some kind of incentive. But that has not been done.”
He argued that the government’s decision to allow large-scale food importation under a 150-day duty waiver is counterproductive and undermines local farmers.
He said, “Then, this import waiver that I have just spoken about, I believe, is a big challenge. A big challenge because it is making this country food insecure. And if a country is food insecure, then, you know, that country cannot stand on its own.
“You will be dependent on imports. And when you get those things imported in foreign exchange, your naira is being depreciated. But then, we don’t know the way they are working towards the stabilisation of the naira and the currency. It is something else.”
On electricity, Dama lamented that rising tariffs have crippled the operational capacity of agricultural processors and mechanised farmers.
He explained, “And the rise in electricity tariffs. As I have said, you cannot do anything without electricity. Our machineries depend on electricity. And this electricity, with band A, B, and C, if you look at it, it is something that is killing.
“So, we believe that that is a challenge. And the government should address and look at it so that we don’t go on and on in this way.”
He stressed the need for the government to back its policy announcements with action, insisting that many good frameworks already exist but lack execution.
“If only they would revert and go back to the policies that have been there on the ground. We believe that it is very important that all these policies should be implemented. Not just an announcement,” he said.
The President of the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Kassim, however, seemed to be of the opinion President Tinubu has faced painful challenges since he assumed office.
According to Kassim, some policy decisions, particularly the removal of petrol subsidies, had far-reaching consequences for farmers.
“The result of some decisions did not go entirely the way I predicted. Some of those decisions have impacted the agricultural sector,” he said, citing the fuel subsidy removal as one example. “The cost of petrol impacted the cost of pumping for irrigation. So, that was the very first beginning.”
He noted that the timing of the decision, which came shortly after the president took office, hit hardest during dry season farming. “We started feeling it by October, when the dry season farming was to commence,” Kassim stated.
Transport costs also soared, adding to the burden on farmers. He said, “We also had it in the cost of transporting farm produce from the farms to the market.”
However, Kassim acknowledged that the administration showed serious intent by declaring a state of emergency on food security, saying, “We also noticed, as players in the industry, the fact that the government backed its declaration by action. I recall at that time, the government moved immediately and secured fertiliser.”
He highlighted efforts such as equipment deals and foreign partnerships: “They signed an agreement, I’m sure you would recall, with the John Deere arrangements and plans.”
He also praised the president’s engagement on the global stage: “In most of his foreign engagements… he also told us how we develop the infrastructure and the degree of technology and techniques to improve our agricultural practices.”
Yet, Kassim was frank about economic constraints, saying, “The budget was promised at $70 per barrel and two million barrels. Today, oil is $58 per barrel, and we’re still at maybe 1.4 or 1.5 million barrels per day. So, he’s short there.”
Despite the administration’s intent, farmers are suffering. “We have had food prices crashing, but at what cost? Because farmers are now facing the brunt. The cost of their production has not gone down. But the price of their output has gone down,; he said.
Global supply dynamics have also worsened the situation, especially with rice: “Thailand and India… suddenly they had a bumper harvest. And what happened in Nigeria is the dumping ground. Go and dump the rice there.”
He warned that this could discourage local farmers: “The issue of building prices of food crops which are unattractive to the farmer… would now affect the farmer’s resolve to go back to the farm.”
To reverse the trend, Kassim urged stronger support for local farmers: “How do we go about crushing his cost of production? Government can help in that, making it available at the right time and at an affordable cost.”
He also emphasised the need for proper infrastructure: “Take, for instance, the river basin development authorities… open up the irrigation facilities, clear and dredge or desilt the canals.”
On irrigation, he pointed out a critical gap: “Nigeria is least in terms of irrigation facilities and availability. Can we start moving towards that area where we should now no longer depend on grain-fed agriculture alone?”
He concluded with a call to action and continuity: “There are quite a few things that have been done. There are many more that can be done because agriculture is not something that you just do once. There are 230 million Nigerians, and we are still growing. They must be fed. We can’t continue feeding Nigerians with foreign food.
