Minister Reports Higher Output and Price Drops Amid Persistent Food Crisis
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has reported a significant upswing in agricultural production for the 2025 wet season, coupled with a major deflationary trend in food prices, according to findings presented in the 2025 Agricultural Performance Survey Report (APS).
Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, stated that the APS, jointly conducted by the National Agricultural Extension and Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), and collaborating development partners, confirms steady growth in the production of major staple foods—including rice, maize, sorghum, millet, cowpea, yam, and cassava—all of which show increases over 2024 levels.
Production Surge and Price Collapse
The Minister attributed this progress to the “cumulative effect of our ongoing interventions in input support, extension delivery and mechanisation.”
Providing specific data points, the Executive Director of NAERLS, Prof. Yusuf Ahmad, confirmed that food prices fell sharply across all six geopolitical zones. Prof. Ahmad stated that the prices of maize, rice, and sorghum dropped by more than 50 per cent nationally, a clear reflection of improved supply and heightened food availability across the country.
Senator Kyari said this achievement provides an essential instrument for evidence-based planning, monitoring, and policy direction in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The positive report was commended by Prof. Adamu Ahmed, Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, who acknowledged the “remarkable resilience” shown by Nigerian farmers. Prof. Ahmed stressed that the national task now is to “build on these gains and make agriculture more adaptive, efficient, and data-driven.”
Progress Contextualized by Acute Food Insecurity
While the APS report signals critical domestic success, the gains are measured against a backdrop of severe and persistent food insecurity across Nigeria. Latest projections indicate that approximately 30.6 million people in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory are expected to face acute food and nutrition insecurity classified at Crisis (Cadre Harmonisé Phase 3) or worse during the peak June–August 2025 lean season.
Nigeria continues to register the highest number of food-insecure people globally, primarily driven by escalating conflicts—including the insurgency in the North East and banditry in the North West—economic instability marked by high inflation and currency devaluation, and the impacts of climate hazards like widespread flooding. Humanitarian assistance needs remain elevated across northern Nigeria, particularly in vulnerable northwestern states such as Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina.
Addressing Unfinished Business
Despite the positive production figures, Minister Kyari pointed to crucial constraints that threaten to undermine the progress. He highlighted that mechanisation coverage, though improving, remains uneven, and that post-harvest losses continue to pose a “serious threat to food availability and farmers’ incomes,” especially in the South-West and North-Central geopolitical zones.
The Minister pledged the Ministry’s commitment to implementing the key recommendations of the survey to address these sectoral constraints, thereby ensuring that the reported growth translates into sustained national food security. He further commended the leadership of NAERLS, the coordinating research institutes, and the technical department within the Ministry for their depth of collaboration in compiling the report.