New in Brief:
– Nigeria’s agricultural sector reached a five-year low growth of 1.76% in 2024, driven by climate change, funding shortages, and insecurity.
– This downturn threatens the nation’s food security and GDP, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive government intervention to address these critical challenges.
Nigeria’s agricultural sector has experienced a concerning slowdown, with growth declining to a five-year low of 1.76% in 2024, according to data analysis by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This significant dip poses a serious threat to the nation’s efforts to achieve food security, especially under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The NBS data reveals a fluctuating growth pattern in the agricultural sector between 2020 and 2024. Initially, the sector showed promise, achieving growth rates of 3.42% in 2020 and 3.58% in 2021.
However, this upward trend was not sustained, with growth dipping to 2.05% in 2022 and only marginally recovering to 2.10% in 2023. Consequently, the sharp decline to 1.76 percent in 2024 marks a significant setback for the sector.
Confluence of factors hindering agricultural progress
Experts have adduced several factors as contributing to this decline. These include the intensifying impact of climate change, escalating input costs, inadequate funding for farmers, and persistent insecurity.
As a result of these combining factors, Nigerian farmers have faced significant challenges.
Gideon Awele, a horticulturist based in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo state, Nigeria, cites widespread crop losses caused by droughts and excessive rainfall. He also blames the inadequacy of past and current government interventions in mitigating these impacts.
Speaking to this publication via phone call, Awele lamented that the suspension of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) has further exacerbated the financial difficulties faced by farmers.
Furthermore, insecurity has been noted as a disruptive factor to the nation’s agricultural activities.
Madam Banke Shida, a cocoa farmer in Ondo state, specifically highlighted this concern as a major and growing threat to food security in the country. Shida said the situation on a personal level made her a widow when invading herdsmen attacked and killed her husband and a few farm workers in 2022.
“The issue of insecurity is becoming too problematic on a general scale, from government to consumers, as well as the millions of farmers who have to undertake going to the farm in such dire conditions,” she decried.
She appealed to the relevant security agencies to step up action against insecurity in a bid to shore up food productivity in the largest black nation on earth. Data from SBM Intelligence reveals that an average of 1,356 farmers lost their lives annually between 2020 and 2024 due to insecurity.
Declining contribution to GDP and food security concerns
In the meantime, the agricultural sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has also witnessed a decline, falling to 25.59% in the fourth quarter of 2024, down from 26.11% in the same period of 2023.
This trend, coupled with the sector’s slow growth, has raised serious concerns about Nigeria’s food security.
A report warns that approximately 33.1 million Nigerians could face food insecurity due to ongoing economic hardships and violence in food-producing regions.
Overall, experts are now calling for urgent and comprehensive action to address the critical issues hindering agricultural growth. They stress the need for the government to tackle climate change, insecurity, and funding challenges to ensure Nigeria’s food security. These fluctuations highlight the sector’s vulnerability to external shocks, policy changes, and security challenges.
