Vice President Kashim Shettima unveiled the plans at the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s National and Subregional Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum in Abuja. He described hunger as “the great equaliser that reveals our vulnerabilities and the shared fragility of our existence.”
A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, detailed measures such as:
- single-window land registration,
- improved agricultural credit systems,
- large-scale mechanisation, and
- strategic irrigation projects.
Nigeria, Shettima said, has the capacity to irrigate more than three million hectares of farmland but currently uses less than 10 percent of that potential. He argued that strategic irrigation alone could triple yields and protect the country from climate shocks.
“Food is not merely a matter of survival, it is a matter of global security,” the Vice President stressed, adding that the 2021–2025 National Development Plan is designed to lift 35 million people out of poverty while securing food and nutrition sufficiency.
Shettima assured investors that reforms, agri-tech innovations and public-private partnerships will make Nigeria “open for business.”
Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Abubakar Kyari, and Budget and Economic Planning Minister, Atiku Bagudu, both echoed the Vice President’s remarks, describing agriculture as central to Nigeria’s economic diversification and a pillar of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
International partners also expressed support. FAO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Hussein Gadain, commended Nigeria’s agricultural priorities as “catalysts for transformative growth,” while the EU Delegation pledged more than €80 million to boost value chains across seven states.
However, local farming groups urged government to turn words into action. The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) said policies must be “properly implemented” to make real impact. The Competitive African Rice Forum’s Peter Dama cautioned against “a cycle of promises without delivery,” stressing that farming cycles cannot wait months for delayed interventions.
The Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) was even more critical, noting that past government initiatives had failed to reach smallholder women farmers, despite their role as the backbone of Nigeria’s food system. The group also faulted Abuja’s failure to meet the 10% budgetary allocation to agriculture recommended under the Malabo Declaration, pointing out that spending remains below 2%.
The unveiling of these reforms comes amid soaring food prices, worsening inflation, and climate shocks that have deepened Nigeria’s food security crisis.
