Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this on Tuesday at the First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. 2025 Agric and Export Expo in Lagos.
Kyari noted that while agriculture contributes about 35 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs an equal share of the workforce, earnings from agro exports remain below $400 million annually.
“Nigeria sits on 85 million hectares of arable land and has a youth population of over 70 percent under the age of 30, yet we account for less than 0.5 percent of global exports. To build a non-oil export economy, we must rethink how we finance agriculture,” he said.
Tinubu’s Food Sovereignty Agenda
The Minister reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to achieving food sovereignty, stressing the need to reduce dependence on food imports.
“Food sovereignty means ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry due to global supply shocks. It allows communities to stand on the strength of our land, our people, and our productivity,” Kyari explained.
He emphasized that boosting domestic food production and supporting agricultural exports are intertwined, but Nigeria lacks the financial systems, infrastructure, and value-addition mechanisms needed to unlock the sector’s full potential.
“We must move from dependence on oil rigs to resilience in food and export earnings. From fragmented farmer credit to structured systems that attract significant capital, and from stereotyped perceptions to increased youth participation in agriculture,” he added.
Call for Reforms
Kyari urged stakeholders to embrace innovative financing models and modern mechanisms to improve food security and exports.
“Nigeria can do better if we think critically and adopt systems such as revenue sharing, forward contracts, Pay-as-Harvest models, and performance-driven agricultural financing. These are not theories; they are already working in other economies,” he stressed.
Background
According to recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), trade contributed 18.21% to Nigeria’s GDP in Q1 2025, surpassing crop production, which accounted for 17.47%. This marked a shift from Q4 2024, when crop production led with 23.42% compared to trade’s 15.11%.
In April, the Federal Government launched the Green Money Project, a presidential initiative aimed at empowering young Nigerians through modern farming techniques. The project, inaugurated at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), seeks to leverage youth potential to strengthen food security and transform the agricultural sector.
