PHOTO FILE: Food Items In The Market

• FG Orders Food Price Crash
• Stakeholders Push Back

Nigeria’s agricultural import bill rose sharply to ₦2.22 trillion in the first half of 2025, sparking criticism from farmers, rice millers and other stakeholders who say Federal Government policies are undermining local production and worsening food insecurity.

The latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show imports climbed from ₦1.81 trillion in the first half of 2024—a 22.65 percent jump in one year. Agricultural imports were ₦1.04 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 and ₦1.18 trillion in the second quarter, representing a 32.6 percent increase from Q2 2024 and a 14.35 percent rise from Q1 2025.

FG Orders Food Price Crash

President Bola Tinubu recently directed a Federal Executive Council committee to reduce food prices nationwide. The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sabi Abdullahi, announced the order in Abuja at a one-day capacity-building workshop for Senate correspondents. According to him, the government intends to lower costs by guaranteeing the safe passage of food items through major transport routes.

“We know how much is spent moving commodities across the country. Reducing those costs will make them cheaper at the point of delivery,” Abdullahi said.

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Stakeholders Push Back

Farmers and millers insist that pronouncements alone cannot override market forces or compensate for poor planning.
“The cost of food will only go down if transport costs and input costs go down,” said Kabir Ibrahim, National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN). “Prices are now so low that farmers cannot buy fertiliser. Importation has dealt with our farmers.”

Peter Dama, who chairs the Competitive African Rice Forum, argued that the government’s approach risks alienating private operators and discouraging investment. “You don’t just order prices to crash,” he said. “At best, the government should have convened stakeholders and provided subsidies. Pronouncements without engagement will not work.”

Dama warned that persistent importation and lack of support were forcing many farmers to quit agriculture. “We are not in an autocratic government. Stakeholders must be carried along.”

Mechanisation Delays

Stakeholders also criticised delays in mechanisation efforts. In July 2024 the government launched 2,000 tractors to support farmers, but more than a year later none have been distributed. “The tractors were launched in July but no modalities have been given,” Ibrahim said. “We need them to support human labour with machine power.”

A senior Agriculture Ministry official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the distribution list is awaiting presidential approval. “Such directives involve trade, finance, customs and investment ministries,” the official said. “A technical committee will address stakeholders’ concerns.”

Farmers further argue that Nigeria’s weak purchasing power is blunting the effect of falling prices.
“Even if food prices fall, people don’t have the money to buy,” Ibrahim stressed. Other stakeholders echoed his view, warning that without urgent subsidies for inputs and stronger consumer demand, food insecurity will deepen.

Fallout from Duty-Free Imports

Critics blame much of the current disruption on the 180-day duty-free window introduced in July 2024, which allowed licensed firms to import staples such as maize, husked brown rice, wheat, beans and millet without duties or tariffs. Although intended as a stopgap against food inflation, the policy ended in December 2024 and triggered a rush of imports without addressing Nigerians’ weakened purchasing power.

According to Ibrahim, government silos and private warehouses are now filled with unsold food. “Maize that once sold for ₦60,000 per tonne now goes for ₦30,000. Farmers cannot recover input costs,” he said.

Chinasa Asonye, National Secretary of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria, added that high input costs and poor-quality subsidised products have crippled production. “Some of the subsidised inputs distributed were expired and caused more harm than good,” she said. She also accused traders and agencies of hoarding grains in anticipation of higher prices, only to suffer losses when prices fell.

Way Forward

Stakeholders agree that piecemeal interventions—duty-free waivers, directives to crash food prices, or delayed tractor distribution—cannot solve Nigeria’s food crisis.

“Yes, reducing transport costs will bring some relief,” Dama said. “But government must also engage rice millers, farmers and private investors. Import licences should not replace real investment in local production.”

Asonye warned that small-scale farmers, especially women, face the greatest risks. “If farmers cannot break even, they will abandon production or resort to strike actions. That will deepen the food crisis.”

With agricultural imports climbing to ₦2.22 trillion in six months and local farmers struggling with input costs, storage challenges and poor purchasing power, the outlook for Nigeria’s food sector remains fragile. Unless subsidies, infrastructure support and stakeholder consultations become central to policy, experts warn, the country’s reliance on imports will continue to rise—at the expense of local production and long-term food security.