Nigeria’s Food Security Crisis: Expensive Inputs, Climate Shocks & Weak Policies Leave Millions Struggling
By OBIOMA TORI
World Food Day Amid a Deepening Crisis
AS Nigeria joins the world to mark World Food Day, millions of households continue to struggle with the rising cost of food, shrinking purchasing power and uncertainty over where their next nutritious meal will come from. For many families, the crisis extends beyond expensive market prices. It reflects a deeper problem involving poverty, weak agricultural productivity, climate pressures and years of difficulty translating government policies into lasting improvements on farms.
The situation presents a serious challenge to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the commitment to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger. The World Bank reported in April 2026 that Nigeria’s national poverty rate had risen from 56 per cent in 2023 to 63 per cent in 2025, representing about 140 million people. The figures point to the difficulty of ensuring that broader economic changes translate into better living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.
Moreover, households face a double burden. While food prices strain family budgets, farmers contend with rising production costs, expensive machinery, limited access to improved seeds and increasingly unpredictable weather. Consequently, the country faces the troubling prospect of households struggling to afford food even as producers struggle to grow it profitably.
The 2026 World Food Day theme, “Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow,” therefore carries particular significance. Observed on October 16, the annual event commemorates the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 1945. This year’s message calls for innovation and collaboration to build food systems that provide sufficient, safe, nutritious and affordable food. Yet, for Nigeria, the central question is whether innovation can move beyond policy documents and reach the farms, markets and households that need it most.
Farmers Struggle With the Cost of Production
Agriculture remains a major source of livelihood across Nigeria. Nevertheless, many smallholder farmers face mounting difficulties in obtaining the tools and inputs needed to increase production.
Climate change compounds these pressures. Flooding can destroy fields and wash away investments, while prolonged dry spells threaten crops and reduce yields. At the same time, higher fuel prices, fertiliser costs, transport expenses and machinery charges leave farmers with fewer resources to manage these risks.
Mechanisation illustrates the scale of the problem. The source report cites Food and Agriculture Organisation statistics indicating that fewer than one per cent of Nigerian farming households owned tractors. It also refers to a 2025 report suggesting that about 70 per cent of farmers continued to rely on basic implements. These figures require verification against the original datasets, but they highlight the longstanding gap between the needs of Nigerian agriculture and the equipment available to producers.
The cost of hiring machinery has also reportedly increased sharply. According to figures cited by agricultural stakeholders, tractor rental rose from approximately ₦80,000 for a day of work in 2023 to ₦205,000 in 2025. Rising fuel prices, maintenance costs and spare-parts expenses have all contributed to the pressure.
For small-scale farmers, such charges can make mechanisation unaffordable, especially when they must also pay for land preparation, seeds, fertiliser, labour and transportation. As a result, some farmers cultivate smaller areas or continue using labour-intensive methods that restrict their capacity to expand production.
Even farmers who can afford to purchase equipment face financial obstacles. Agricultural stakeholder Nnaemeka Obiaraeri reportedly said he paid ₦15 million in clearing charges on a tractor purchased for ₦33 million. His experience illustrates concerns about import costs, although the specific charges and applicable tariff classifications require independent verification.
Without affordable machinery, accessible credit and reliable maintenance services, agricultural modernisation will remain beyond the reach of many producers.
Improved Seeds & Irrigation Remain Out of Reach
Access to quality seeds is another major constraint. A review of Nigeria’s seed system cited in the source report put the adoption of improved seeds among rural farmers at about nine per cent. The report also estimated that roughly 42 per cent of farmers used inorganic fertilisers. Both figures require confirmation from the underlying studies and should not be interpreted as proof that fertiliser use is inherently harmful.
Nevertheless, poor access to reliable seed varieties can reduce yields and undermine resilience. Farmers need seeds suited to local conditions, including varieties that mature quickly, tolerate drought or resist prevalent pests and diseases. However, limited awareness, inconsistent quality and weaknesses in regulation can make it difficult for farmers to distinguish reliable products from inferior ones.
Improved seeds also need complementary support. Without adequate irrigation, extension services, soil management and affordable fertiliser, farmers may fail to realise their potential benefits.
Nigeria’s dependence on rain-fed farming makes these gaps especially important. Climate variability can disrupt planting calendars and shorten growing seasons. Therefore, expanding irrigation and promoting climate-smart farming could help farmers produce crops beyond the traditional rainy season.
Although drought-tolerant maize, improved rice and high-yield cassava varieties offer potential benefits, adoption depends on research, affordability, farmer training and consistent access to inputs. Government support must therefore extend beyond distributing seeds or announcing new programmes.
Why Agricultural Policies Have Struggled to Deliver
The Federal Government introduced the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy for 2022–2027 to strengthen productivity through research, mechanisation, extension services, irrigation, digital agriculture and climate-smart practices.
However, the existence of a policy does not automatically translate into improved farming conditions. Farmers must be able to access the machinery, information, financing and infrastructure that policies promise.
The limited adoption of modern equipment and improved production methods raises questions about implementation, funding, monitoring and coordination between federal and state authorities. Furthermore, agricultural research must address the practical needs of farmers rather than remain confined to reports and demonstration projects.
Previous interventions also offer lessons. The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme was designed to provide financing and support to small-scale farmers, helping them improve production and strengthen links with processors. However, concerns emerged over loan recovery, beneficiary selection and allegations that some funds reached people who were not genuine farmers.
Those concerns underscore the importance of transparent lending, independent audits and effective monitoring. Agricultural finance must reach productive farmers, while repayment arrangements should reflect the realities of farming, including weather risks and market volatility.
Technology-based agricultural enterprises, including Thrive Agric and Farmcrowdy, have sought to connect farmers with financing, markets, technical advice and information. Such initiatives can help address longstanding gaps. Nevertheless, their reach must expand, and their results must be measured against clear indicators such as yields, farmer income, repayment performance and reductions in post-harvest losses.
Food Systems Need More Than Higher Yields
For Toluwalope Daramola, founder of Menitos Farm Depot in Lagos, the food crisis cannot be explained solely by insecurity or climate change. She also warned that small farmers risk losing their place in the agricultural system as larger commercial operators expand.
Daramola argued that farmers needed to adapt to changing climatic conditions, embrace year-round production where feasible and invest in processing. She called for a system that protects agricultural investment and food availability from increasingly unpredictable weather.
Her concerns raise an important policy question: how can Nigeria attract large-scale investment without undermining smallholder farmers, who remain central to food production and rural livelihoods?
The answer requires more inclusive agricultural financing, stronger farmer cooperatives, accessible markets and investment in storage and processing. Smallholders need opportunities to sell their produce at remunerative prices, while consumers need reliable supplies at affordable costs.
Reducing post-harvest losses is equally important. Poor storage, inadequate roads, limited cold-chain facilities and weak market connections can cause food to spoil before it reaches consumers. Investing in local storage hubs, processing facilities and better transportation could therefore increase the amount of food available without requiring a proportional expansion of cultivated land.
Innovation Must Reach Farmers & Markets
Feyikemi Adurogbangba, Strategic Communications Lead at Keselash Agricom, identified weak communication as another obstacle to agricultural innovation. She argued that promising solutions often fail to spread because farmers and other stakeholders do not receive accessible information about their benefits or how to use them.
In her view, communication should function as critical infrastructure for scaling innovation. Sharing farmers’ experiences, documenting successful interventions and explaining practical lessons can build trust and help communities adopt proven methods.
That approach is particularly relevant where farmers have limited access to extension officers or digital services. Innovations will have little impact if producers cannot understand them, afford them or obtain support when problems arise.
Government agencies, research institutions, private businesses and farmers’ associations should therefore develop practical training programmes, demonstration farms and accessible advisory services. They must also communicate in languages and formats that farmers can understand.
A Long-Term Plan for Food Security
Adeoluwa Michael Adesola, Managing Director of Arzikin Noma Africa, called for a 10-year agricultural development roadmap involving government, development finance institutions, private businesses, young people and women.
Such a plan would need measurable targets for irrigation, mechanisation, research, rural infrastructure, processing and farmer incomes. It would also require stable financing and coordination across administrations to prevent new initiatives from abandoning previous investments.
Meanwhile, Suleiman Dikwa, Managing Director of Green Sahara Farms, advocated a bio-circular economy that turns agricultural residues into useful industrial products. Rice husks, cassava waste and palm-processing residues, for example, could become inputs for biofertilisers, energy and other products when suitable technologies and viable markets exist.
Dikwa also argued that agricultural waste could support bioenergy production and that ecosystem restoration, including mangrove conservation, could create economic opportunities through credible carbon-finance arrangements.
These proposals offer potential benefits, but their implementation would require sound feasibility studies, appropriate technology, investment and strong environmental safeguards. Carbon-credit revenue, in particular, depends on credible measurement, recognised standards, clear ownership rights and fair benefit-sharing with local communities.
From Promises to Measurable Results
Nigeria’s food-security challenge demands coordinated action across the agricultural value chain. Farmers need affordable inputs, accessible credit, reliable extension services and practical technologies. Governments must strengthen rural infrastructure, improve market access and make agricultural programmes accountable. Researchers and businesses must help scale solutions that work, while consumers need protection from unsafe food.
Most importantly, policymakers must measure progress by outcomes rather than announcements. Relevant indicators include food affordability, farm productivity, household nutrition, post-harvest losses, farmers’ earnings and access to modern equipment.
World Food Day provides an opportunity to renew commitments, but the real test lies in what happens after the commemorations end. Unless agricultural policies translate into tangible support for producers and better access to nutritious food for households, the promise of innovation will remain unfulfilled.
For millions of Nigerians struggling to afford daily meals, the priority is clear: build a food system that rewards farmers, protects consumers and makes adequate nutrition accessible to everyone.
