By Stella Odueme
The Federal Government has called on Investors, Financial Institutions and Development Partners to collaborate with Nigeria in its vision of building a resilient food system, climate smart farming and expand sustainable agricultural production as well as unlocking the enormous potential of Africa’s largest agricultural market.
Speaking during the Nigeria-United Kingdom Investment Forum in London, England, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari highlighted Nigeria’s agricultural potential, citing its diverse agro-ecological zones and competitive production capabilities.
According to a statement by the Head, Department of Information, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, on Monday, Kyari stated that agriculture employs nearly 70% of the country’s labour force, contributes over 24% to GDP and is a critical driver of inclusive growth, rural livelihoods, women and youth employment
The Minister disclosed that Nigeria possesses the natural conditions required to support a broad spectrum of agricultural value chains like rice, maize and cassava, cocoa, sesame, sorghum as well as horticultural crops, noting that the commodities consumed across global markets can be produced competitively within Nigeria’s diverse agricultural landscape.
According to him, the impact of climate change, which poses significant risks to nations worldwide, has in Nigeria manifested in prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall patterns, flooding, and desertification, threatening agricultural productivity and food security, and underscoring the urgent need to transition to climate-resilient agriculture.
He added that to achieve this transition, a significant financing gap remains as current investment levels fall far short of what is required 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.
He recalled that 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 highlighted 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, among others.
