Nigeria’s food economy reflects a striking contradiction. Despite being richly endowed with arable land and a young population, the country spends over $10 billion annually on food imports pp, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari.
At the First Bank of Nigeria’s 2025 Agric and Export Expo in Lagos on Tuesday, Kyari warned that Nigeria’s growing dependency on imported staples like wheat, rice, sugar, fish, and even tomato paste poses a direct threat to the nation’s food security.
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The staggering import bill and Nigeria’s inability to utilise its unique advantages reflect both structural gaps in domestic production and inefficiencies in the agricultural value chain. Wheat and rice, two of the most consumed staples, are imported in large volumes despite Nigeria’s vast hectares of cultivable land. Fish imports, too, highlight the underdeveloped aquaculture sector.
This dependency is not merely an economic issue. It exposes Nigeria to the volatility of global food supply chains, where price shocks, trade restrictions, or geopolitical crises can severely disrupt access to essential commodities.
Kyari framed the issue as one of sovereignty: “Ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry because of shocks in the global food supply chain” is, in his view, central to the Tinubu administration’s food agenda.
Agriculture’s Untapped Potential
Agriculture currently contributes about 35 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and employs the same proportion of the workforce. Yet, the sector underperforms in global markets, generating less than $400 million from agro-exports, a meagre return given the country’s size and resources.
Kyari noted the irony: Nigeria “sits on 85 million hectares of land” and a youth population exceeding 70 percent under the age of 30, but accounts for less than 0.5 percent of global agricultural exports.
The agriculture minister suggested that the problem is not lack of resources, but lack of systems—financing, infrastructure, and value addition—that can turn potential into prosperity.
Financing as the Missing Link
At the heart of Kyari’s intervention is the call for increased financing for agriculture. He argued that boosting food production and building export capacity are not competing goals but “two sides of the same coin.”
What Nigeria lacks is a structured financial system that can move beyond fragmented farmer credit and attract large-scale capital investment into agribusiness.
The minister proposed mechanisms such as revenue-sharing arrangements, forward contracts, and pay-as-harvest models, tools already proven in other economies to reduce risks for both farmers and financiers. By linking credit to performance triggers, Nigeria could build a more reliable system of agricultural lending.
From Dependence to Resilience
The broader implication of the $10 billion import bill is that Nigeria remains food insecure, reliant on external supplies rather than domestic resilience. Kyari’s framing of the challenge as one of “food sovereignty” suggests a policy shift from merely ensuring availability to guaranteeing self-reliance.
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But sovereignty is not just about producing enough food. It also involves creating jobs, supporting rural communities, and enabling youth to see agriculture as a viable livelihood. It requires investment in infrastructure—storage, irrigation, transportation, and processing—that can reduce post-harvest losses and build value-added exports.
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
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