The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has disclosed that Nigeria recorded between N3.5 trillion and N5 trillion in postharvest losses in 2025.

The President of OTACCWA, Mr Alexander Isong, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. Isong also said the country lost an estimated 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food across major value chains.

Isong said: “In 2025, Nigeria lost an estimated 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food to post-harvest inefficiencies across major value chains, particularly tomatoes, vegetables, fruits, dairy, meat, fish, and root crops. “In monetary terms, this translates to approximately N3.5 trillion to N5 trillion in economic losses.”

He explained that the losses represented food that had already been cultivated, harvested and transported. He said: “When such volumes are lost due to inadequate cold storage, poor logistics, and weak infrastructure, the country is effectively losing Gross Domestic Product that has already been created.

“Farmers had already invested in land preparation, seedlings, fertiliser, labour, irrigation and transport before these products were lost due to weak cold storage and logistics systems.”