Agricultural stakeholders reckon that the threat of hunger persists in Nigeria despite recording a N668.34bn agricultural surplus and have called for improved food processing and support for local farmers.
The value of agricultural exports surpassed imports by N668.34bn in the first quarter of 2025, according to the foreign trade data for Q1 2025 from the National Bureau of Statistics. The agricultural surplus reflects growing agribusiness trade following the Federal Government’s 150-day duty-free import window boost.
Nigeria has sustained a high level of food importation. Agricultural imports dropped by 5.02 per cent to N1.04 tn in Q1 2025 from N1.09 tn in Q4 2024, but the year-on-year review shows a wider margin. Imports grew by 12.52 per cent from N920.54bn recorded in Q1 2024.
Stakeholders, including the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Agricultural & Allied Group and the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, have cautiously lauded the country’s performance in agricultural exports, which grew by 10.63 per cent to N1.7 tn from N1.54 tn in the preceding quarter.
Chairman of the LCCI Agricultural & Allied Group, Tunde Banjoko, maintained that only improved food processing capacity can secure Nigeria on its path to food security. He restated that Nigeria has not allayed fears of increased food prices in the lean season.
Banjoko explained that agribusinesses’ search for foreign exchange and increasing demand for raw materials, such as cornflour by pharmaceutical manufacturers, drove the N668.34bn agricultural surplus.
Banjoko noted that farmers are poised to enjoy export dividends as they meet the quality that buyers seek.
He said, “Everybody is trying to earn in forex now, hence the push for exports in the agric space. That’s why, for example, the price of most of our commodities, such as cashew, went up this year, even though cocoa came down. There is a demand for our product in many countries, especially in Asia.
“Africa appears to have raw materials and commodities that companies need. They’ve been looking inward, and many farmers have taken advantage of that, which is a good thing.”
He urged the Federal Government to build the country’s food processing capacity, stating, “We should start talking about how to export not only raw materials but processed materials.”
“That prediction is still holding water as we look at the lean season. The United Nations World Food Programme estimated that 33.1 million Nigerians are projected to face acute food insecurity in mid-2025, and that is when people are not harvesting. It is coupled with the floods in Niger State that have ravaged and destroyed lots of places and this continuous crisis in Benin-City and Plateau States,” Banjoko noted.
He explained that since the crisis hurts the food supplied to the markets, one “cannot say we have respite until the price of food in the markets has come down. That’s the way to measure, not on paper. Until we get to the markets and get food at the best rates, then we can say that we have probably tamed the inflation of food.”
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