Why increased harvests haven’t cut food prices — Minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has attributed the continued high cost of food to gaps in processing, storage and distribution despite increased agricultural production.

Kyari said farm-gate prices had fallen considerably under the President Bola Tinubu administration, but consumers were yet to fully benefit because of challenges between farms and markets.

Speaking on ARISE NEWS on Friday, the minister said government data indicated that production costs had declined while agro-processing remained a major challenge.

“Production has come down. Which means at the farm gate, prices have come down considerably,” Kyari said, adding that the government was working to address the gaps between production and consumption.

He attributed Nigeria’s continued reliance on food imports to rapid population growth, low agricultural productivity, limited access to land and high production costs.

According to the minister, Nigeria’s population is growing by about eight to nine million people annually, making increased productivity essential to meeting domestic demand.

Kyari said the government was supporting farmers with subsidised inputs and improved seeds while also pursuing mechanisation and local processing.

He said the government expected the Special Agro-Processing Zones to help address weaknesses across the food value chain by linking production with aggregation, storage, processing and marketing.

The minister also said Nigeria’s rising food imports were largely driven by processed products, rather than raw farm produce.

“We are trying to do what we can to reduce so that we add value,” he said.

Kyari said improved security had also allowed farmers to return to previously inaccessible farmlands, contributing to increased harvests in 2024 and 2025.

He projected that the 2026 harvest would surpass the previous year’s output, citing improved productivity, more stable input prices and government interventions.

The minister said the 2026 production figures were expected between October and November after the rainy-season harvest.

On mechanisation, Kyari said tractors supplied under the government’s agricultural mechanisation programme had been deployed to farms.

He said the government was monitoring their performance, with each tractor expected to cover between 500 and 600 hectares annually.

Kyari said achieving higher productivity across the value chain remained crucial to reducing food prices and cutting Nigeria’s dependence on imported processed food.