By Comrade Habib S. Umar
As the country approaches the final weeks of the wet-season harvest, Nigerian farmers are confronting a combination of challenges that threaten national food security and agricultural productivity. From climate-related disasters to the rising cost of farm inputs, the pressures facing the sector have reached alarming levels.
In many farming communities, floods, drought pockets, and pest outbreaks have destroyed crops and reduced yields significantly. These natural disasters, worsened by unpredictable weather patterns, have left thousands of farmers struggling to recover.
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Compounding the crisis is the continuous increase in the prices of fertilizers, seeds, agrochemicals, and other essential inputs. Labour costs have also risen sharply, forcing many smallholder farmers out of production and weakening the backbone of the nation’s food supply chain.
Agricultural experts and stakeholders note that intervention efforts in earlier administrations provided far more relief to farmers.
Under former Presidents Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, programmes such as the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) and the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) helped local farmers access subsidized inputs, credit facilities, and mechanization services. Although these initiatives had their shortcomings, they offered crucial support that boosted productivity and sustained rural livelihoods.
In contrast, current intervention mechanisms appear limited in both scale and impact. Many farmers report receiving little to no support during this year’s farming season despite facing increasing production costs and climate-induced losses. Analysts warn that without decisive and immediate action, the nation’s food supply situation may deteriorate further.
Stakeholders are therefore calling on the Federal Government to act swiftly—beginning with the upcoming dry-season farming cycle. They emphasize the need for targeted subsidies, large-scale irrigation support, affordable credit, and disaster-response mechanisms that can help farmers rebuild and prepare for the next planting season.
With food inflation already affecting millions of Nigerians, the urgency for government action has never been greater.
The coming months will determine whether the country can stabilize food production or slide into deeper agricultural distress.
