THE Federal Government has said that Nigeria spends $10 billion annually on food imports, amid insecurity, access to finance, believed to be critically affecting food production in the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, hinted at this at the First Bank of Nigeria Limited 2025 Agric and Export Expo in Lagos on Tuesday, August 19.
Amid a rising rate of food imports, he stressed the need to increase financing in agriculture to boost local production and exports.
“Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually importing food such as wheat, rice, sugar, fish, and even tomato paste.
“Currently, the nation earns less than $400 million from agro exports. To build a non-oil export economy, we must rethink how we finance agriculture,” Kyari, who was represented by his Special Adviser, Ibrahim Alkali, said.
He noted that despite the country having about 85 million hectares of arable land with a youth population of over 70 per cent under the age of 30, Nigeria accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of global agro-exports.
“Agriculture already contributes 35 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product and employs 35 per cent of our workforce,” Kyari stressed.
According to the Minister, there is an urgent need to scale up agricultural financing.
“President Tinubu has made it clear that food sovereignty is the goal. Nigeria must not only feed itself but do so on its terms, free from excessive dependency on imports.
“Sovereignty means ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry because of shocks in global food supply chains. It means empowering every community to stand on the strength of our land, our people, and our productivity,” he said.
He maintained that boosting domestic production and supporting exports are not separate agendas — they are two sides of the same coin.
“We have the land, the labour, and the markets. What we lack is the system of financing, value addition, and infrastructure that can turn potential into prosperity.
“The fundamentals compel us to pivot from dependence on oil rigs to resilience in food and export earnings; from raw commodity exports to value-added agribusiness; from fragmented farmer credit to structured financial systems that attract significant capital; and from stereotypes to active youth participation in agriculture,” Kyari said.
He further emphasised the need for innovative mechanisms and critical thinking to strengthen food security.
“Nigeria can do better if we begin to think critically and improve mechanisms such as revenue sharing, agricultural financing with performance triggers, factoring forward contracts, Pay-as-Harvest schemes, and more.
“These are not abstract theories. They are proven models working successfully in real economies,” Kyari added.
The ICIR reported recently that for most of the northern states where the huge agricultural foods are produced and supplied to the south, there has been concern over the spread of insecurity, as well as incessant flooding that is impacting food supply.
Earlier this year, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that 15 states were at high risk of flooding, including Kogi, Imo, Enugu, Adamawa, Taraba, Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, and the Federal Capital Territory.
For the most part, the northern region has been battered with insecurity, which has led to the killings of thousands, as most farmers are scared of going back to their farmlands because of the herdsmen-farmers crisis.
While the federal government has hinted at its plan to borrow ¥15 billion (approximately $110 million) in emergency loans to strengthen food security in the country, most commercial banks’ policies do not favour loan access to the agriculture sector, The ICIR reported.
In July 2023, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency to tackle food shortage and rising costs, but the price of foodstuffs and other commodities has continued to surge since his two years in office, with the country’s food inflation peaking at over 40 per cent in June last year.