LAGOS – Nigeria’s agriculture sector showed signs of recovery in 2025 after the severe challenges of 2024, as better harvests, lower food prices and increased government involvement brought some relief across the country, Daily Independent gathered.
However, stakeholders in separate interviews with Daily Independent cautioned that these improvements may not last unless key issues such as insecurity, unfair pricing for farmers, high input costs and the need for sustained long-term investment are urgently addressed.
Compared with the record shortages and inflation of the previous year, Prince Oyewumi Oyedele Oyetunde, Editor-in-Chief, Farmers Choice Magazine, said 2025 delivered stronger production outcomes across major staples, as government and research bodies reported steady growth during the wet season, with rice, maize, cassava, sorghum, millet, cowpea and yam recording higher outputs.
In many markets, increased supply translated into lower food prices, easing pressure on consumers and improving food affordability nationwide.
Official data reflected this stabilisation. The National Bureau of Statistics reported Bureau of Statistics reported agricultural growth of 2.82 percent in the second quarter of 2025, while the sector remained a major contributor to GDP.
Austine Gbenga Adeniba, COO of Eliakim Integrated Services Ltd, noted that growth improved from 0.07 percent in Q1 to 3.79 percent by Q3, with agriculture accounting for about 26.8 percent of total GDP.
From a commodity association perspective, Anibe Achimugu, President, National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), said agriculture contributed not less than 30 percent of GDP in Q3, underscoring its continued importance despite prevailing economic and security challenges.
Stakeholders linked much of the recovery to increased government intervention. Federal budgetary allocation to agriculture reportedly rose sharply to over N800 billion by 2025, reflecting a stronger focus on food security, mechanisation and farmer support.
Central to these efforts was the National Agricultural Growth and Agro-Pocket Project (NAGS-AP), particularly the dry-season wheat programme targeting tens of thousands of farmers and an output value of about N160 billion.
Several respondents said the programme demonstrated that results followed when inputs such as fertilisers and improved seeds actually reached farmers.
There was also broad agreement that better data and coordination helped improve targeting. The Farm Family Census, Tractor Census and the push toward a unified digital farmer registry were cited as important steps in improving accountability, planning and delivery of credit, insurance and extension services.
Oyewole Okewole, Senior Associate Consultant at FutuX Agri-consult Limited, said the renewed emphasis on transparent data collection and modern technology was significant in addressing long-standing sector constraints.
Production gains were particularly evident among staple crops.
Adebowale Onafowora, Managing Director of BIC Farms Concept, said record outputs in rice, maize, sorghum and cassava were driven by expanded cultivation and farmers responding to the severe under-supply and high prices of 2024.
Africanfarmer Mogaji (Afioluwa Mogaji), an Agribusiness Strategist, described the year as an “80 percent improvement,” noting that prices of many food items fell by as much as half compared with the previous year.
One of the clearest outcomes of higher output was the moderation of food prices. Mogaji highlighted the stabilisation of tomato prices, noting that coordinated efforts prevented the usual seasonal spike, with a 50kg basket selling for about N50,000 in 2025, compared with up to N200,000 the year before. Similar declines were recorded for sweet potatoes, cassava and other tubers, trends that many households felt across the country.
However, the easing of prices exposed a key fault line in the sector.
While consumers benefited, many farmers struggled with falling farmgate prices.
Yinka Adesola, a stakeholder in the shea industry, described 2025 as disastrous from the farmers’ perspective, arguing that tariff waivers and imports crashed prices and wiped out investments, particularly for rural producers.
She warned that a significant number of farmers may be unable to cultivate in the coming season.
Northern farmer, Sani Danladi, National Secretary of the National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NATPAN), echoed this concern, describing bumper harvests alongside sharp price drops that left farmers dissatisfied.
While he acknowledged that food availability improved and public complaints about hunger declined, he said many producers were unable to recover their costs.
He added that although the Federal Government provided some input support through commodity associations, smallholder farmers — widely recognised as the backbone of food security — needed far more consistent assistance.
Insecurity and high input costs remained persistent threats to sustainability.
Henry Olatujoye, a former National President of the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), described the sector as recovering but still underperforming, citing insecurity around farming communities and expensive inputs as major obstacles.
He argued that food inflation would only continue to decline if security improved and input prices fell across the board.
Sunday Ezeobiora, National President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), described 2025 as a year of resilience for poultry, pointing to increased adoption of climate-smart agriculture, digital tools and solar energy to manage high temperatures and energy costs.
He also noted growing backward integration, as processors increasingly sourced raw materials locally, strengthening domestic value chains.
Overall, stakeholder assessments placed the sector between modest recovery and stabilisation, with ratings ranging from 5.5 to 6 out of 10.
Read more on Independent Newspapers Nigeria
