The Nigerian Government has commenced a comprehensive review of the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket Project after recording 2,536,184 metric tonnes of produce valued at N2,312tn ‘over four farming seasons.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, told the workshop on the implementation framework of the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket Programme on Thursday that the meeting was convened to assess progress and strengthen implementation.
“I express my profound gratitude and appreciation for being here amongst this important gathering brought together from different segments purposely to brainstorm on what has been done during the past seasons in the cause of implementing the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket Project.
“We are here to objectively examine its strengths and weaknesses with a view to identifying what needs to be modified to make it better, more efficient, more effective, and more impactful,” he said.
Highlighting the project’s performance, the minister stated, “It is worthy of note that during the four seasons of programme implementation, a total of 2,536,184 metric tonnes of produce were recorded, with an estimated value of N2,312,746,400,000.00.”
He noted that the achievement had positively impacted the nation’s food supply and pricing.
“This significant milestone achievement has contributed substantially to increased food availability and the stabilisation of food prices in the country. Currently, food prices are declining, and efforts are being made to address the high cost of agricultural inputs in order to balance input and output costs,” he said.
According to him, the review aligned with the Nigerian government’s declaration of emergency on food and nutrition security.
“You are quite aware that the current administration under the able leadership of His Excellency, President Tinubu, pursuant to its Agricultural Renewed Hope Agenda, declared an emergency on Food and Nutrition Security so as to pay special attention to the agricultural sector to ensure that there is enough food production in the country with easy access, affordability and wholesomeness for all the citizens.”
The minister emphasised that the government was open to reforms aimed at improving the scheme: “I want to assure you that the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and the NAGS-AP Project Secretariat, in particular, are open to public views or criticism to make the implementation of the NAGS-AP Project more meaningful.”
The NAGS-AP Project focuses on six staple crops: wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava, under the Food Security Emergency Support Programme.
“As you are also aware, the NAGS-AP Project, whose focus is on six staple food crops, namely wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava, was put in place to implement the Food Security Emergency Support programme geared towards bridging the food supply and demand gaps with a view to guaranteeing national food and nutrition security for the nation,” he said.
Local media reports quoted the minister as saying that the expansion plans, including collaboration with international partners:
“I am pleased to inform you that the NAGS-AP Project, in addition to implementing one of the AfDB-funded Policy-Based Operations projects, is making all necessary arrangements to commence the implementation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency project and the National Agricultural Growth Scheme programme.
The JICA loan project will focus on rice, maize, soybean, and cassava production, while NAGS 2.0 will cover wheat and rice production starting from the 2026 wet season.”
He added that under the 2025/2026 dry season farming, the project would focus on rice, maize, and cassava production across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
GIK/APA