Food Prices Stay High Despite Bigger Harvests, Minister Blames Processing, Distribution Gaps
Nigeria may be producing more food, but the increase is yet to translate into cheaper meals for millions of households.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, says the problem is no longer simply how much food is produced. The bigger challenge, he explained, is what happens between the farm and the consumer.
Kyari made the remarks during an interview on Friday while responding to concerns over why Nigerians continue to face high food prices despite government interventions in agriculture.
He said available figures show that farm-gate prices have fallen considerably, meaning farmers are getting lower prices for some produce.
However, the cost of agro-processing has not fallen at the same pace.
According to the minister, that gap means the benefit of lower prices at the farm level is not fully reaching consumers.
From farm to market
Kyari identified processing, storage, aggregation, transportation and marketing as major gaps that must be addressed if increased production is to result in cheaper food.
He said Nigeria is also struggling to match food production with rapid population growth, which he estimated at about eight to nine million additional people annually.
Other challenges, he said, include limited access to farmland, low agricultural productivity, the cost of inputs and the need for better-quality seeds.
The minister said government interventions have included subsidised inputs and seeds, while the National Agricultural Development Fund has provided fertiliser at no cost to some farmers and the Bank of Agriculture has offered a 50 per cent subsidy.
Security has also affected production.
Kyari said many farmlands that were inaccessible because of insecurity in 2023 have since become available for cultivation. He said Nigeria recorded a major harvest in 2024 and an even bigger one in 2025.
The government is still awaiting the official 2026 figures.
Why food imports remain high
Kyari also explained that Nigeria’s growing dependence on food imports is increasingly linked to processed food, rather than a simple shortage of farm produce.
He said the government is therefore pushing mechanisation, local processing and value addition through the Special Agro-Processing Zones, or SAPZ.
The zones are designed to connect production with aggregation, storage, processing and marketing.
The minister said all eight first-phase SAPZ projects are expected to come on stream before the end of 2027, while government is already planning a second phase involving an initial group of 10 states.
He also pointed to the government’s restriction on exports of some raw commodities, such as shea nuts, as part of efforts to encourage more local value addition.
What about 2026?
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Kyari expects this year’s harvest to exceed the bumper harvest recorded in 2025. He attributed that projection to improved productivity, more accessible farmland, stabilised input prices and government interventions.
Official 2026 production figures are expected between October and November after the wet-season harvest, with additional figures expected as the government moves towards measuring production across different farming cycles.
The minister’s argument is therefore that Nigeria’s food challenge is shifting.
The country must not only grow more food, but also build the processing, storage, transport and distribution systems needed to move that food from farms to consumers at lower cost.
ValidViewNetwork reports that this distinction may explain why Nigerians can hear of higher agricultural production while still confronting expensive food in markets.
