By Ify Mgbemena
Rising global freight costs and surging domestic input prices are intensifying pressure across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, with farmers warning of declining profitability and growing production challenges.
The President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Farouk Rabiu Mudi, shares insights in an exclusive interview with AgroNigeria, highlighting the far-reaching impact of escalating fuel prices on the sector.
According to Mudi, the cost of transporting agricultural goods has risen sharply, creating a ripple effect across the value chain and driving up food prices nationwide.
“Haulage costs have surged from between ₦400,000 and ₦800,000 to as high as ₦3 million to ₦4 million per trip on major routes,” he said. “This increase is significantly affecting both producers and consumers.”
He noted that these rising logistics costs are compounding longstanding structural challenges, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to sustain production.
The situation is further worsened by persistent global supply chain disruptions, which continue to drive up the cost of imported agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and agrochemicals.
Corroborating this, sesame farmer Ilyasu Ishak said the impact is already severe at the farm level, revealing that the price of key inputs, particularly fertilizers, has more than doubled over the past year.
“The rising cost of inputs is cutting deeply into our margins,” Ishak said. “Many farmers are struggling to maintain productivity because they can no longer afford the same level of input usage.”
He added that for export-oriented crops like sesame, the challenges are even more complex, as foreign exchange volatility and high international logistics costs directly affect market competitiveness and farmer earnings.
Industry stakeholders warn that the convergence of rising freight costs, input inflation, and currency instability is creating a fragile operating environment for Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
They stressed that without targeted interventions to boost local production capacity and reduce dependence on imported inputs, the sector will remain highly vulnerable to external shocks.
Stakeholders are therefore calling for urgent investments in infrastructure, improved input distribution systems, and policy support to strengthen the value chain, stabilize production, and ensure long-term sustainability.
