Kyari: Food Prices Crashing Amid Targeted Market Interventions

James Emejo in Abuja

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, yesterday declared that food prices of food items have declined across several commodities, attributing the drop to ongoing targeted market interventions by the federal government.

Speaking at the opening of the 47th Meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Food Security in Kaduna State, the minister noted that “While we are not yet where we want to be, this positive trend confirms that we are moving in the right direction”.

He said the first step toward food sovereignty was ensuring consistent, high-yield production through timely access to quality and affordable inputs.

The minister pointed out that while agriculture remains the single largest employer of labour in the country, contributing more than one-quarter of GDP, it constitutes a measure of the nation’s resilience and the foundation of its collective renewal – a driver of industry, pillar of national stability, and promise of the future.

He said the council was working to deliver on President Bola Tinubu’s charge that farmers must transition from hoes and cutlasses to tractors and harvesters while food sufficiency must be the first currency of national stability.

Kyari said food sovereignty had become the driving momentum of the country’s agricultural transformation, ensuring that food security is built on local capacity, national ownership, and inclusive growth.

The minister noted that earlier in the year, the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) was approved to be recapitalised with ₦1.5 trillion, alongside an additional ₦250 billion financing window for smallholder farmers, marking a decisive step toward repositioning the bank as the anchor of Nigeria’s agricultural financing system.

He added that BoA in partnership with Heifer Nigeria, had launched the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme, a transformative tractor financing and management initiative designed to expand affordable access to mechanization services nationwide.

The programme, he said, supports a new generation of mechanisation service providers, particularly farmers, youth, and women, by providing access to fully equipped tractors, preventive maintenance support through mechanisation hubs, and training to ensure proper use and sustainability.

He said wheat production has continued to expand across the country, growing from 15 participating states in the 2023/2024 dry season to broader coverage in the 2024/2025 season.

According to him, the increase in scale reflected ongoing efforts to enhance production capacity and boost self-sufficiency in key staples.

He said, “Just last month, in October, a new milestone was achieved with the introduction of rainfed wheat cultivation in Kuru, Plateau State, an innovation by the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) that extends wheat farming beyond irrigated zones.

“With rainfed varieties now proven viable across the highlands of Plateau, Taraba, and Cross River States, Nigeria is charting a new course toward all-year farming and self-sufficiency in wheat production, bringing us closer to meeting our national demand from within”

The minister added, “ As we scale up production, we must also preserve value after harvest. To address post-harvest losses and stabilise prices, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), has developed the Nigeria Postharvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST), our legacy project unveiled in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year during the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF).”

According to him, NiPHaST was designed to strengthen post-harvest handling and storage systems from the community level upwards, creating an integrated network that connects farmers, cooperatives, and strategic reserves across the country.

The programme will dedicate 85 per cent of its interventions to the primary or community level, providing smallholders with affordable, climate-smart storage solutions such as hermetic bags and metal silos.

He said 10 per cent will focus on the secondary level, supporting cooperative aggregation, processing hubs, and solar-powered cold rooms as part of a broader cold chain system while the remaining five per cent will target the tertiary or strategic level, modernising national silos through public-private partnerships linked to commodity exchanges.

Kyari said, “Together, these tiers will form a connected post-harvest system aimed at cutting losses valued at over $10 billion annually, while improving food quality, farmer incomes, and price stability nationwide.

“To strengthen national food security and stabilise prices, operations at the National Strategic Grain Reserve Silos in Zamfara, Katsina, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Niger, Osun, Edo, and Kwara States are being enhanced for greater efficiency and capacity. By integrating these facilities into the national food distribution framework, the Ministry is building a responsive system that ensures timely interventions during shortages and supports long-term food stability.”