Flooding, inflation, high cost of inputs defined agric sector in 2024

2024 remains one of the most challenging years for Nigerian farmers, despite the creation of a new ministry for the livestock sector.

Wet season and irrigation farmers suffered greatly in the outgone year as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies, declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his inauguration address on May 29, 2023.

The removal of fuel subsidies resulted in a nearly 300 per cent increase in the cost of inputs such as fertilisers, which soared from N16,000 to N43,000 per 50kg bag for the Urea blend in some areas, and NPK 20:10:10, which increased from N10,000 to N37,000. Other blends, such as NPK 15:15:15 went up to N52, 000 in some farming communities.

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Certified seeds, such as those for rice, sorghum and maize became too expensive for many farmers to afford.

Certified rice seeds for varieties like Faro 44 and Faro 52 shot from N48, 000 to N200,000 per 100kg, prompting many farmers to use their own uncertified seeds.

As fuel prices rose from N195 to N650 and then N1,100 per litre, many irrigation farmers who mostly relied on water pumping machines to supply water to their farms faced their worst challenge.

Transporting crops from fields to markets or homes also became much more expensive due to rising fuel prices, which further lowered farmers’ profit margins.

The high cost of diesel drove up the cost of mechanisation (hiring tractors), which further weakened many small and medium-sized farmers’ access to these services.

Climate change also had an impact on Nigerian agriculture, as floods and moderate droughts ruined nearly 300,000 hectares of crops, causing many farmers to lose their livelihoods, thereby affecting food supply in the country.

The National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Architect Kabir Ibrahim, reflecting on the year, said the performance of Nigeria’s agricultural sector was “a mixed bag of sorts in 2024 because the farmers had high hopes of a bumper harvest until dry spells and near-harvest time floods changed everything.”

Architect Ibrahim said: “A good number of farmers lost their livelihoods in some areas due to long spells of drought and devastating floods such that we now have an acute shortage of food, and there is a serious threat that portends the possibility of putting Nigeria on the threshold of acute food insufficiency.”

On his part, Dr Austine Maduka, a farmer and official of the National Agricultural Commodities Projects (NACP), said there were “many challenges in the outgoing year as far as agriculture is concerned. From the government, no serious intervention,” adding that individuals could not go to the farm due to the high cost of farming.

For livestock farmers, 2024 worsened the issues that began with COVID-19, and inflation and feed prices have continued to rise.

Praise Ighama, a middle-scale poultry farmer with more than 1,000 birds, told the Daily Trust that the price of feed increased to N30,000 per bag, making this year one of the hardest for farmers.

She pointed out that as feed and vaccine prices skyrocketed in 2024, many farms that had previously been operating below capacity had to close.

FG’s intervention did not make a difference

During the last dry season, the federal government targeted 250,000 hectares of wheat with an expected turnover of at least 750,000 metric tons of wheat.

However, other farmers claimed that round-tripping occurred at the distribution level and that those who received inputs at a 50% subsidy were not genuine wheat growers, which undermined the programme’s goal.

Also, the federal government’s mechanisation initiative with John Deere for 10,000 tractors is yet to take off more than 12 months after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the tractor-manufacturing company.

The deal was to see John Deere supply an average of 2,000 tractors every year for the next five years but nothing on the ground yet, largely due to funding arrangements and meeting financial commitments.

Regarding the fertiliser issues, the federal government was unable to persuade the fertiliser manufacturers—Indorama, Dangote and Notore in particular—to lower their prices and expand supplies to NPK blenders nationwide since they receive subsidised feedstock (gas).

Many NPK blenders could not receive urea, which is a critical component for mixing NPK. This made access to the commodity impossible for millions of smallholder Nigerian farmers.

In response to the rising cost of food brought on by these issues, the federal government announced a three-month tax-free food importation waiver. However, many attributed the failure of that policy to the collapse of the naira’s value in relation to the US dollar.

Where FG intervention raised hope

In July, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development in the country and inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Implementation of Livestock Reforms to address obstacles to livestock productivity.

The committee, co-chaired by Professor Attahiru Jega, suggested a number of measures to deal with the livestock industry’s lingering issues, which experts say have been ignored for a long time.

The new ministry is also anticipated to address the country’s violent crop farmer-herder conflicts.

Alhaji Iddi Muktar Maiha, a Kaduna-based livestock farmer, has been appointed to lead the ministry in implementing the president’s livestock agenda.

This development gave optimism to the livestock community, which had been overlooked in terms of budget allocation and policy innovation.

The committee also advised the establishment of eight more research institutes in the livestock sector in order to broaden opportunities and increase its contribution to the country’s GDP.

With two ministries now in the country’s agricultural space, Nigerian farmers can only hope for a better future in 2025.

We’re reducing production costs—Agricultural minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, said the federal government was working hard to “actively support our farmers by reducing production costs as part of our strategy to combat food inflation and increase agricultural productivity.”

“Currently, under the 2024-2025 dry season farming initiative, approximately 280,000 farmers are benefiting from government subsidies designed to scale up production. Through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme—Accelerated Programme (NAGS-AP), we are providing a 75 per cent discount on essential farming inputs, including fertilizers, chemicals, and seeds.

“We remain committed to implementing sustainable solutions to enhance food security and improve the livelihoods of our citizens. Let us work together to build a nation where every Nigerian has access to nutritious food and where such tragedies become a thing of the past,” Kyari stated.

We’re moving from talking to implementation—Livestock minister

The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, has promised to modernise the sector.

Speaking during a stakeholder workshop in Abuja recently, he said it was time to move from workshops to actual implementation of programmes.

“For too long, we’ve had diagnostics, lamentations and workshops. It is now time to move from talking to implementation.

“We are opening up the ministry by shifting from traditional methods to modern, innovative practices. Our goal is to unlock all the value chains in the livestock sector, enabling Nigerians to access economic and investment opportunities,” he stated.

Farmers outline expectations

Dr Austine Maduka said to boost Nigeria’s agriculture sector in 2025, the government should prioritise issues such as tackling insecurity problems in agrarian communities to prevent farmers from abandoning their farmlands, noting that farmer-herdsmen conflicts have severe consequences for food security.

He urged the government to invest in irrigation facilities to enable farmers to produce crops all year round, increasing food availability and eliminating shortages.

Other areas Dr Maduka mentioned include “foster an enabling environment for sustainable agribusiness, leveraging Africa’s projected $1 trillion food market by 2030; provide subsidies on essential inputs like fertilisers to enhance affordability for farmers; and support the adoption of science, technology and innovation to scale productivity and improve agricultural efficiency.”

Arch. Ibrahim, president of AFAN, suggested that numerous windows of support to farmers from the FG should be completely and openly executed to enable Nigerians with ample food to fend off starvation till the next rainy season.

The AFAN president recommended that the “moribund irrigation systems and partially working systems should be repaired quickly to encourage irrigation production to augment what little we have.”

He also noted that the “2025 agricultural budget gives hope to us provided that it is implemented properly and transparently.”