Minister of Agriculture Kyari says 85% of Nigeria’s food comes from smallholder farmers, urging greater investment in research, innovation and rural development.
Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has warned that although smallholder farmers produce about 85 per cent of the country’s food, their living conditions have remained largely unchanged, underscoring what he described as a structural imbalance in the nation’s agricultural economy.
Kyari made the remarks on Tuesday during the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Sustainable Financing for Agricultural Research, Development and Innovation (AR4D), held as part of the Ninth Africa Agriculture Science Week in Abuja.
The dialogue, organised by the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) in collaboration with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), brought together policymakers, researchers and development partners to explore sustainable financing models for agricultural research and innovation across the continent.
The minister said the NADF was established as a strategic intervention to reverse decades of underinvestment in Nigeria’s agricultural research system.
Reflecting on his time in the National Assembly when the legislation establishing the fund was considered, Kyari said he supported the initiative after witnessing the impact of dedicated intervention agencies in other sectors of the economy.
Despite agriculture contributing roughly one-quarter of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Kyari said the rural communities responsible for the country’s food production continue to lag in development.
“Eighty-five percent of the food we consume comes from smallholder farmers, yet their living conditions have remained virtually unchanged. That shows there is a structural imbalance in the agricultural economy,” he said.
The minister attributed declining agricultural productivity to limited access to quality seeds, inadequate financing, shrinking arable land, climate change pressures and years of neglect of agricultural research institutions.
According to him, many farmers have resorted to planting harvested grains instead of certified seeds because they cannot afford improved varieties, a practice he said has contributed to lower yields and declining productivity.
Kyari also commended the NADF for conducting a baseline assessment of Nigeria’s 16 agricultural research institutes and 17 colleges of agriculture, describing the exercise as a crucial step towards revitalising the country’s agricultural research infrastructure.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, argued that Africa’s agricultural transformation would depend more on creating a robust innovation ecosystem than simply increasing research funding.
“Financing is not the major challenge. It’s actually an ecosystem challenge,” Ibrahim said.
He stressed that agricultural research must produce innovations capable of attracting investment, commercialisation and large-scale adoption.
“As much as research requires funding, the market also requires research. Financing flows wherever there are returns,” he added.
The ministerial dialogue concluded with the adoption of the Abuja Clarion Call, through which more than 500 African leaders urged governments to increase predictable domestic investment in agricultural research, establish sustainable agricultural development funds, strengthen public-private partnerships, expand innovative financing mechanisms and accelerate agricultural transformation across the continent.