The Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit (PFSCU) has enrolled about 250,000 smallholder farmers in an insurance scheme covering the 2025 wet-season farming cycle, as part of efforts to shield rural producers from climate shocks and market volatility.
According to official documents from the Unit, the scheme, implemented between April and October 2025 covers farmers in Borno, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, and Taraba States. It provides protection against crop failure and gives farmers access to inputs, helping them recover from losses caused by flooding, drought, and sudden market fluctuations.
The PFSCU explained that the initiative would also run through the 2026 dry season before expanding nationwide. It said the scheme was designed to strengthen farmers’ resilience and restore confidence among smallholders who are often the most affected by climate-related disruptions.
Established in 2024 under the National Economic Council (NEC), the PFSCU was created to coordinate food-system delivery across the three tiers of government. The Unit is led by Marion Moon, Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture (Office of the Vice President), and is tasked with implementing the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) while overseeing federal and state food programmes.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima had earlier announced the Federal Government’s plan to launch the NAPM during a PFSCU steering committee meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in April 2025. He described it as a “data-driven, state-led model” that would synchronise Nigeria’s agricultural efforts through real-time analytics.
Following that announcement, the PFSCU commenced verification exercises and extension workshops for insured farmers in April across the eight pilot states. Similar activities were also extended to Cross River, Edo, Ebonyi, Kebbi, and Oyo States, which were part of the pilot phase but without NAPM inputs.
The Unit said the insurance complements other PFSCU programmes such as the Harvesting Hope Caravan, the 30-Per-Cent Value-Addition Bill, and the €995 million Nigeria–Brazil Green Imperative Project aimed at promoting agricultural mechanisation. It added that the insurance database will be integrated into the NEC’s live food-balance dashboard as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen coordination in Nigeria’s food systems.
PFSCU data show that while food inflation eased to 16.87 per cent in September 2025, more than 30.8 million Nigerians still faced acute food insecurity during the mid-year lean season. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have also warned that climate-induced farmer exits continue to threaten the country’s food-security goals.
However, the PFSCU noted that state participation remains uneven. Speaking with newsmen, Marion Moon disclosed that only three of the 36 states have shown significant commitment to PFSCU programmes so far.
“What we found with the states is that those who are on the steering committee have picked up the fastest,” she said. “They understand what we’re doing daily, and by virtue of their involvement, they’re now supporting us with resources which has been another limitation.”
The three proactive states, Ekiti, Cross River, and Jigawa are represented on the PFSCU Steering Committee.
At its 147th meeting in December 2024, the National Economic Council urged state governments to key into PFSCU programmes as part of broader efforts to tackle food insecurity. During that meeting, Moon outlined the Unit’s strategy for stronger collaboration with sub-national governments to unlock agricultural potential nationwide — a move the Council said aligns with the Federal Government’s long-term food-security agenda.
