By Ayodele Abere
The Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) and the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) have convened a high-level stakeholders’ meeting in Ado-Ekiti to coordinate measures aimed at reviving Nigeria’s food system, amid growing concerns over declining farm activities, rising input costs, and worsening insecurity.
Addressing journalists at the workshop, Agricultural Adviser to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Professor Abba Gambo, warned that Nigeria is currently facing serious food security challenges, noting that many farmers are abandoning their farms across the country, He said.
Gambo, a professor of agriculture with over 35 years of experience at the University of Maiduguri, said findings from various states revealed that the high cost of inputs, particularly fertilizer, has discouraged farmers from returning to their farms.
He explained that the sharp increase in fertilizer prices last year has led to a significant drop in farm productivity, as many farmers could not afford the input, resulting in poor yields and reduced total output.
According to him, urgent action is needed to reverse the trend, urging the Federal Government to put in place practical and workable mechanisms that will bring farmers back to the fields and encourage youths and women to embrace agriculture.
He also called on the government to meet its commitment under the Kampala Declaration by allocating at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture, lamenting that current allocation stands at just about 2 to 2.3 percent.
Also speaking, Dr. Musa Umar of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security described the PFSCU and NAPM initiative as a strategic intervention designed to establish a national food balance framework that tracks productivity, trade, reserves, surpluses, and shortages.
He noted that the new mechanism adopts a crop- and location-specific approach, unlike previous blanket interventions, ensuring that support is targeted at areas with comparative advantage, while promoting the vision of “One Nigeria, Unified Policy, Shared Prosperity.”
Umar further assured that the Federal Government is making efforts to support farmers through the distribution of improved hybrid seeds and by stabilizing fertilizer supply, adding that adequate stock is being secured to make the product affordable for farmers.
Meanwhile, stakeholders at the workshop, including Ahmed Usini and Mr. Einola Akindele, emphasized the importance of data-driven planning, revealing that 13 states are already participating as pilot states, with harmonized data from multiple farming cycles guiding policy decisions and interventions.
Participants also raised concerns over fluctuating commodity prices, insecurity, and funding gaps, calling for minimum price guarantees, improved access to finance, establishment of agricultural academies across the six geopolitical zones, and stronger security measures, while urging Nigerians to return to farming as a collective solution to achieving sustainable food security in the country.
