The Federal Government of Nigeria is collaborating with the World Agriculture Forum, Nigeria (WAF) to transform post-harvest management and cold chain infrastructure in the country to enhance food production.
Speaking at the inauguration of the WAF Nigeria Council in Abuja, Dr Musa Umar, Director, Office of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said that the ministry would work with the WAF to boost food security.
He described the WAF Nigeria Council inauguration as timely and strategic and that agriculture is central to food security, economic diversification, rural development, industrial growth, employment generation and social stability.
“We are prioritising value chain development, mechanisation, irrigation expansion, access to quality inputs, post-harvest management, storage systems, agro-processing and market linkages,” he said.
In his speech, the Executive Director, World Agriculture Forum, Dr MJ Khan, said that the establishment of the country’s council was timely and strategic.
Khan, who was represented at the event by Mr Lekan Ofem, the Director of Strategy and Head of Country Councils and Stakeholder Engagement, World Agriculture Forum, said that the event signaled renewed commitment to transforming agriculture into a powerful engine for economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Earlier, the Country Director, Nigeria World Agriculture Forum, Dr Alexander Isong, said that the event was not just an institutional unveiling, but a response to a national imperative.
He said that the mandate of the organisation was to bridge the gap between production and value and improve agricultural production in the country.
“Nigeria today faces a profound paradox. We are one of Africa’s largest agricultural producers, yet millions of our citizens face food insecurity,” he said.
Isong noted that recent projections indicate that up to 34.7 million Nigerians could face severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season if urgent interventions were not implemented.
“Let us confront the numbers. Nigeria loses between 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food annually due to post-harvest inefficiencies.
“In monetary terms, this translates to ₦3.5 trillion to ₦5 trillion in economic losses every single year,” he said.
According to him, reducing these losses even by 20 per cent will recover millions of tonnes of food and inject trillions of naira back into the economy.
He said studies by the Food and Agriculture Organisation showed that Nigeria lost 50 per cent of agricultural produce along the value chain—from harvest to market.
“What this means is simple and sobering: We are not losing food because we do not produce enough. We are losing food because we do not preserve it enough.
“We are losing value because we do not move efficiently from farm to market. This is the true battleground of food security in Nigeria—value retention.
“This is why solving post-harvest loss is not just an agricultural priority—it is a national economic priority. If we fix value retention, we fix food availability. If we fix logistics, we stabilise prices,” he said.
Isong said agriculture must move from fragmented production systems to coordinated, market-linked. ecosystems where farmers are connected to storage, logistics, processing, and markets in a seamless flow.
“We must reposition agriculture beyond farming into logistics, storage, processing, and export systems. Agriculture must become investable, scalable, and bankable,” he added.
GIK/APA