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Stakeholders urge urgent agri-budget revamp

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National Agriculture Stakeholders Demand Overhaul of Funding and Policy Execution

A growing coalition of voices from Nigeria’s agricultural landscape is calling for a fundamental overhaul of how the nation funds and implements agricultural policies. This strong message emerged from a high-level National Stakeholders Consultative Forum on the 2026 Agriculture Budget, recently held in Lagos.

More than 130 participants—including representatives from government agencies, civil society organizations, academia, development partners, and farmer associations—came together to confront the worsening state of Nigeria’s food and farming systems. The three-day summit laid bare the urgent challenges plaguing the sector, such as food insecurity, declining productivity, and rising threats to rural livelihoods, while also putting forward bold proposals for meaningful reform.

The event was jointly organized by ActionAid Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, GIZ’s Global Programme AgSys Nigeria, and the ECOWAS Commission. It marked a critical juncture for the country as it prepares for the 2026 agriculture budget cycle amid deepening crises.

Participants focused on aligning Nigeria’s agricultural investments with established national and continental priorities, including the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP), the 2025 Kampala Declaration, and the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) under the Malabo Declaration.

In a communiqué released at the close of the meeting, stakeholders expressed disappointment that despite repeated commitments by successive administrations, agriculture continues to suffer from insufficient funding and weak policy execution. In 2024, only 4.2% of the national budget was earmarked for agriculture—a figure that plummeted to 1.2% in 2025. Both figures fall significantly short of Nigeria’s pledge to allocate at least 10% of its budget to agriculture under the Maputo (2003) and Malabo (2014) Declarations.

This chronic underfunding comes at a time when more than 30 million Nigerians across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory are expected to face severe food and nutrition insecurity during the current lean season—a stark reminder of the urgent need for transformative action.

Stakeholders voiced deep concern over the persistent threats to Nigeria’s agricultural stability, highlighting widespread insecurity—including terrorism, banditry, and violent clashes between farmers and herders—as key drivers of displacement and destruction across rural communities. These security challenges, they warned, are severely disrupting food production and further weakening the already fragile agricultural value chain.

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Compounding the crisis, stakeholders pointed to the intensifying impacts of climate change. Between 2022 and 2024, Nigeria suffered a series of catastrophic floods, with over 1.1 million hectares of farmland lost to flooding in 2024 alone. They stressed that this environmental devastation has further strained food systems and rural livelihoods.

Beyond security and climate threats, stakeholders flagged several structural and economic barriers undermining the sector. These include ongoing soil degradation, inadequate rural infrastructure, soaring post-harvest losses, escalating input prices, and farmers’ limited access to affordable credit—all of which continue to stifle productivity and resilience in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

“Despite Nigeria’s vast agricultural potential, the country remains heavily reliant on food imports, while smallholder farmers face persistent barriers to accessing land, financing, quality seeds, and security,” participants at the forum stated, voicing widespread frustration. “What’s needed now is not just a bigger budget—but genuine political commitment, accountability, and a sense of urgency.”

The discussions also brought attention to entrenched structural inequalities within the agricultural system. While women and youth form the backbone of agricultural labour and food production, stakeholders emphasized that they are routinely sidelined—lacking equitable access to resources such as land, inputs, credit, extension services, and meaningful participation in policy-making processes.

Stakeholders at the meeting drew attention to the National Agricultural Gender Policy, which mandates that at least 35% of agricultural funding be allocated to women. However, they lamented that this benchmark is rarely achieved in actual implementation. Youth—who make up more than 60% of Nigeria’s population—and persons with disabilities (PWDs) were also cited as routinely marginalized in both policy design and budget allocation.

A major point of concern was the prevailing customary land tenure system, which continues to deprive women, young people, and PWDs of secure land rights. This exclusion severely hampers their ability to expand their farming operations or qualify for agricultural financing. Even when government input subsidies are made available, stakeholders noted that they are often delayed or distributed through opaque and inequitable systems—further disadvantaging vulnerable groups.

In response to these systemic issues, the forum called on the Presidency to spearhead a national agricultural revitalization agenda. This, they stressed, should include increasing the agriculture sector’s budgetary allocation to a minimum of 10%, with funds released early and aligned with planting and harvesting cycles.

Participants also advocated for a decentralized approach to agricultural security, urging that state and local governments be empowered to better safeguard farmers. Insecurity, they argued, must no longer be treated solely as a security issue, but as a direct threat to national food systems and economic resilience.

To enhance transparency, the forum recommended the creation of a nationwide, digital tracking system for agricultural spending to reduce corruption and improve public accountability. Inclusion remained a central theme, with a strong call for at least 35% of agriculture-related funding to be ring-fenced for women, youth, and PWDs—accompanied by clear budget lines and enforceable accountability frameworks.

Investments in rural infrastructure were also emphasized, including the construction of feeder roads, cold-chain storage, and modular agro-processing units. Climate-resilient agriculture featured prominently among priorities, with stakeholders pushing for support for drought-tolerant crops, organic inputs, biopesticides, and reforestation initiatives.

To mitigate recurring farmer-herder conflicts, the forum proposed the development of hybrid pasture farms that could serve as sustainable feed sources for pastoral communities. They also recommended the establishment of innovation hubs and youth-focused farming clusters to drive agri-tech entrepreneurship and modernize the sector.

The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) was encouraged to play a more strategic role in both funding and oversight. Stakeholders suggested that unspent capital from other government ministries be redirected into the fund to provide a stable, domestic financing pipeline, independent of donor contributions.

As the country faces yet another uncertain farming season, the message from participants was clear: without decisive and sustained action, millions of Nigerians could fall deeper into hunger and poverty. Yet, with the right mix of leadership, inclusive policies, and smart investments, agriculture still holds the power to drive national renewal and long-term prosperity.

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