The Federal Government has urged investors, financial institutions and development partners to work together with Nigeria’s vision of developing a resilient food system, promoting climate-smart agriculture and expanding sustainable food production while unlocking the country’s vast agricultural potential.
Speaking at the Nigeria–United Kingdom Investment Forum held recently in London, England, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, highlighted the enormous opportunities within Nigeria’s agricultural sector, pointing to the country’s varied agro-ecological zones and strong production advantages.
The minister explained that Nigeria has the natural endowments required to sustain a wide range of agricultural value chains including rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, sesame, sorghum and horticultural crops. He noted that many commodities demanded in international markets can be competitively produced across Nigeria’s diverse agricultural environment.
According to him, the growing effects of climate change present major threats to countries around the world, adding that prolonged droughts, irregular rainfall, flooding and desertification are already undermining agricultural productivity and food security. He stressed that these challenges highlight the urgent need to adopt climate-resilient agricultural systems.
He further explained that achieving this transformation will require significant financial resources, noting that present levels of investment are far below what is needed to establish resilient food systems, introduce climate-smart technologies and expand 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 in response to these concerns, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a national state of emergency on food security in July 2023 soon after assuming office. A year later, Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) to harmonise interventions across the three levels of government.
He noted that the Federal Government has also rolled out several initiatives, including the distribution of solar-powered irrigation pumps to smallholder farmers to enable year-round farming and improve water management efficiency among other programmes.
He added that in order to reduce investment risks and attract more private capital, the government is strengthening institutions such as the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), the Nigeria Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) and the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC). In addition, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) is being restructured to improve its ability to support large-scale agricultural investments and land management programmes.
He also disclosed that the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service is being reinforced to strengthen phytosanitary and zoosanitary regulations, which will promote safer international trade and increase investor confidence in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The minister pointed out that investment opportunities exist in areas such as irrigation technology, farm mechanisation services, development of climate-resilient seeds, cold-storage facilities, commodity aggregation systems, agro-processing and agricultural logistics.
He reiterated the Federal Government’s determination to create a conducive environment for investors through policies and initiatives designed to strengthen agricultural value chains and advance sustainable farming practices.
Sen. Kyari further encouraged UK investors to explore opportunities within Nigeria’s agricultural sector, stressing the prospects for collaboration through joint investment platforms, innovative credit guarantee mechanisms and sustainable agribusiness financing aligned with Environmental, Social and Governance principles.
