Over 2.5m metric tonnes of food valued N2trn produced in 2yrs—FG

Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi Federal Government has said that over 2 million metric tonnes of food with estimated value of over N2 trillion was produced under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket, NAGS-AP, in two years.

He said this in a keynote address delivered at a two-day NAGS-AP Stakeholders’ Review and Preparatory Workshop on the Modified Implementation Framework organized by the NAGS-AP in collaboration with the Bank of Agriculture.

Abdullahi said that the essence of the workshop to examine the strength and weakness of the NAGS-AP Project with a view of identifying why is needed to be modified to make it better.

He further said that the alignment between the NAGS-AP Project and the BOA is to develop a new implementation framework and operational strategies that will stand the test of time and it will encompass all the relevant stakeholders operating in an ecosystem to produce verifiable result. 

The NAGS-AP Project focused on six staple food crops including wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soyabean and cassava.

 He said “as you are also aware, the NAGS-AP Project whose focus is on six staple food crops namely wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soyabean and cassava was put in place to implement the Food Security Emergency Support programme geared towards bridging the food supply demand gaps with a view to guaranteeing national food and nutrition security for the nation.  

“It is worthy of note that during the four seasons of programme implementation, a total of 2,536,184 metric tons of produce were recorded, with an estimated value of ₦2,312,746,400,000.00 7. 

“This significant milestone achievement has contributed substantially to increased food availability and the stabilization of food prices in the country.”

He further said that, “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.”

Meanwhile, he (Abdullahi) revealed that the Federal Government is making arrangements to commence the implementation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, project and the National Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAGS 2.0) programme.

He said that, “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. 

“Under the 2025/2026 dry season farming, the Project will focus on rice, maize and cassava production and it will cover all the 36 States and FCT.”

Meanwhile, he called on partners and farmers to partner with the government to consolidate on the recorded achievements under the Project as the dry season farming is around the corner.

 In his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, represented by a Director in the Ministry, Ibrahim Tanimu, called on participants at he workshop “to examine the proposed implementation framework and the alignment being designed to ensure the creation of strong pillars that would support the working relationship between NAGS-AP Project Secretariat and the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to achieve greater impact on sustainable basis.”

Meanwhile, in a goodwill message, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Mohammed Magaji, represented by the Deputy President, Administration, Chief Daniel Okafor, called on the Bank of Agriculture, BoA, to closely work with farmers to achieve more under the NAGS-AP Project.

Earlier, the National Project Coordinator, NPC, NAGS-AP Project, Isiaku Adobuba, in an address of welcome explained that, “The Project aside supporting farmers with critical farm inputs for the production of the priority crops, will also provide institutional supports for better performances and sustainability particularly in the areas of staple food production.”

Adobuba also said the essence of the two-day workshop is to come up with new concepts, ideas and innovations for possible adoption following alignment made between NAGS-AP Project and the Bank of Agriculture as directed by President Bola Tinubu.