The National Youth Forum (NYF) has said that Nigeria’s continued dependence on food imports and international aid, despite its vast agricultural potential, is unacceptable.
In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its national president, Comrade Toriah Olajide Filani, the NYF decried the worsening food security situation in the country. It blamed the crisis on systemic corruption, the diversion of agricultural equipment, inadequate budgetary support, and weak oversight mechanisms that have crippled meaningful interventions in the sector.
Comrade Filani lamented the contradiction of a nation rich in fertile land yet unable to feed itself. According to him, only about 35 percent of the cultivable land in Nigeria is currently being utilized, primarily by smallholder farmers who lack access to modern tools and support systems.
“While government announcements about procurement and distribution of farming equipment are frequent, the reality is that many of these tools are siphoned off for private use. What should benefit entire communities ends up enriching a few, leaving genuine farmers stranded,” Filani stated.
He noted that Nigeria continues to allocate minimal resources to agriculture, revealing that in 2024, only 1.32 percent of the national budget was committed to the sector, far below the 10 percent minimum recommended by the African Union under both the Maputo and Malabo Declarations.
This chronic underfunding, according to him, is a major roadblock to achieving food sufficiency and economic stability.
While acknowledging a significant budgetary increase for agriculture in 2025 from N362 billion in 2024 to N826 billion, Filani cautioned that allocations alone are not enough.
“Without mechanisms for effective implementation, transparency, and impact tracking, these figures remain mere numbers on paper,” he said.
According to the NYF, widespread corruption and administrative bottlenecks result in only a fraction, between 15 and 19 percent, of agricultural funds reaching the intended beneficiaries or projects.
This mismanagement undermines high-profile initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme and the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP), whose outcomes have fallen short of expectations.
The Forum argued that the consequences of this systemic failure are dire. Nigeria, despite its vast natural advantage, ranked 103rd out of 121 countries in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, underscoring the country’s inability to transform its agricultural potential into food security.
NYF’s president emphasized the strategic importance of agriculture in reducing youth unemployment, enhancing GDP growth, and improving rural security. He pointed out that states like Kano, which have consistently invested in agricultural infrastructure and mechanized farming, experience lower rates of rural insecurity. These benefits, he noted, stem from legacy investments such as the dam projects initiated by former Governor Audu Bako.
“Where young people are actively engaged in agriculture, the appeal of criminality diminishes. A growing agricultural sector is also a security and development issue,” Filani said.
He lamented that although Nigeria has everything it takes to be the food basket of Africa, the country is fast becoming a country dependent on food handouts while sitting on one of the most fertile stretches of land in the world.
“Until we bridge the gap between policy declarations and actual delivery, this crisis will persist,” he added.
The NYF urged the government to view agriculture not merely as an economic sector, but as a national security priority. To reverse the current trend, the group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a national emergency on agriculture and to unveil a comprehensive, innovation-driven reform agenda that is inclusive of the youth.
Among its proposals, the Forum recommended the formation of youth-led agricultural cooperatives in every state, alongside the scaling up of mechanized farming schemes to reduce labor inefficiencies in rural areas. It also advocated for the introduction of a productivity benchmark tailored to each state, which would allow for public tracking of progress.
The Forum further called for the development of a publicly accessible digital dashboard to monitor the disbursement and impact of agricultural budgets and projects in real time, thereby fostering transparency and accountability.
Citing recent data from both the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), NYF warned that more than 25 million Nigerians could face acute food insecurity in the near future unless urgent corrective measures are implemented.
“Nigeria has everything it takes to be the food basket of Africa. Yet we are fast becoming a country dependent on food handouts while sitting on one of the most fertile stretches of land in the world. Until we bridge the gap between policy declarations and actual delivery, this crisis will persist.”
