Higher agric budget insufficient to boost food production

The more than 100 percent increase in Nigeria’s agriculture budget in one year is insufficient to drive food production, experts say.

The federal government raised its 2025 agric budget to N826 billion from N362 billion in 2024, representing 128 percent increase in one year.

However, the country’s allocation is low when compared with African peers.

Nigeria’s 2025 agric budget is just about $550.7 million as against Egypt’s $3.79 billion allocation in 2024. The North African nation is set to even raise its agric budget this year. Similarly, South Africa allocated $894 million to agriculture last year and plans to increase it this year.

Experts have expressed dissatisfaction over the budgetary allocation, noting that it cannot combat the country’s escalating food crisis.

Adebayo Adeleke, founder of Supply Chain Africa and food security expert, highlighted that Nigeria’s 2025 budget allocation of N826 billion for agriculture (1.7 percent of the total budget) is insufficient given the country’s pressing food security challenges.

“This budget cannot do much to contain food security,” he said.

Adeyemi Taiwo, a financial analyst, also highlighted low budget allocations and unreliable power supply as key barriers to boosting agricultural productivity in Nigeria.

Nigeria is faced with reviving a sector challenged by lingering issues ranging from climate change, low tech adoption, inadequate storage facilities, poor transportation network, insecurity and high input costs, among others.

Suleiman Dikwa, CEO, Green Sahara Farms, Plateau State, in another media report, had stated that the budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector raises significant concerns, considering projections of worsening food crises in the nation.
Nigeria’s inflation rate increased for the fourth straight month in December 2024, hitting a near 30-year high of 34.8 percent, up from 34.6 percent in the prior month. Food inflation, which constitutes more than 50 percent of Nigeria’s inflation basket, stood at 39.84 percent from 39.93 percent in November.

Nigerian farmers are hard hit by high cost of inputs as foreign exchange crunch continues to hurt Africa’s most populous nation. Insecurity is a critical issue, with insurgents and kidnappers sacking farmers in different parts of the country.

In 2003, Nigeria committed to the Maputo Agreement during the Second Ordinary Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Mozambique.

The agreement called for allocating approximately 10 percent of the nation’s total budget to agriculture, with a target of a six percent annual growth rate, aimed at strengthening food security and fostering economic growth.
Since then, however, Nigeria’s agricultural budget has fluctuated between one and two percent, with experts warning that the continued neglect of the sector could worsen the country’s food security crisis.

Read also: Top 5 issues to shape Nigeria’s agriculture in 2025

Implications on food security

Experts argue that low agricultural budget allocations often lead to reduced productivity, higher poverty, unemployment, poor rural development and worsening food crisis.

They add that the N488 billion capital investment falls far short, especially considering that agriculture employs over 70 percent of Nigerians.

Adeleke, earlier quoted, raised concerns about the challenging task of achieving food security in 2025, emphasising that it involves more than just agriculture.

He further highlighted that factors such as infrastructural development, supply chain distribution, technology, and the active participation of stakeholders must be addressed to achieve food security in the country.

Abubakar Kyari, Nigeria’s current minister of agriculture and food security, pointed out recently that relying solely on the nation’s budgetary allocation for agriculture is insufficient to tackle food insecurity. He made this statement during a recent briefing at the State House.

According to World Food Programme (WFP) 2025 Global Outlook, about 343 million people in 74 countries are facing acute food insecurity, a 10 percent increase from 2023 and nearly 200 million more than before the pandemic.

Almost half of this population (133 million) are Nigerians, according to the Cadre Harmonisé report on food and nutrition insecurity analysis.

The report was created by the federal government with support from various partners, including international organisations such as Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) focused on food security and the Child Welfare.

In November 2024, the FAO predicted declines in global food production, particularly in wheat, maize, and sugar.
These changes will have significant effects on global consumption, trade, and stock levels.

However, food production continues to be highly vulnerable to disruptions caused by adverse weather, geopolitical tensions, and policy shifts according to the FAO.

About 33 African countries out of 45 nations globally lack the ability to address food insecurity in 2025, the FOA said.

“Nigeria’s agricultural sector faces many challenges which impact on its productivity. These include; poor land tenure system, low level of irrigation farming, climate change and land degradation. Others are low technology, high production cost and poor distribution of inputs, limited financing, high post-harvest losses and poor access to markets,” FAO said in one of its reports.

“These challenges have stifled agricultural productivity affecting the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP as well as increased food imports due population rise hence declining levels of food sufficiency.”