The federal government says Nigeria’s agricultural sector has experienced steady growth in the 2025 wet season, with increased production and lower market prices for major staple foods.

The minister of agriculture and food security, Abubakar Kyari, stated this at the presentation of the 2025 Agriculture Performance Survey Report (APS) by the National Agricultural Extension and Liaison Services (NAERLS) on Wednesday in Abuja.

The APS was jointly conducted by NAERLS of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), with collaborating departments, agencies, and development partners.

The minister said that the 2025 APS findings presented both encouraging progress and critical challenges.

”On a positive note, the report confirms steady growth in the production of major staples—rice, maize, sorghum, millet, cowpea, yam, and cassava—all of which show increases over 2024 levels.

“This progress, coupled with a significant drop in food prices across all zones, is a clear reflection of improved supply conditions and the cumulative effect of our ongoing interventions in input support, extension delivery and mechanisation,” he said.

Mr Kyari said that the survey remained one of the most essential instruments for evidence-based planning, monitoring, and policy direction in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

He said the survey would provide a realistic picture of production outcomes, farmers’ experiences and sectoral constraints, upon which decisions and targeted interventions could be built.

“Mechanisation coverage, though improving, remains uneven; post-harvest losses, especially in South-West and North Central zones, pose a serious threat to food availability and farmers’ incomes,” he said.

The minister pledged the ministry’s commitment to implementing the key recommendations of the survey.

He commended the leadership and staff of NAERLS, the coordinating research institutes and the technical department within the ministry for the depth of collaboration that had gone into the 2025 edition.

Mr Kyari said that the complementary studies on commodity prices demonstrated a new standard of excellence and transparency in national agricultural performance reporting.

In his remarks, Adamu Ahmed, the vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said Nigerian farmers have shown remarkable resilience.

“Our task now is to build on these gains and make agriculture more adaptive, efficient, and data-driven,” he said.

Mr Ahmed was represented by Sanusi Rafindadi, the deputy vice chancellor of advanced research and innovation at ABU.

In his presentation, executive director of NAERLS, Yusuf Ahmad, said the 2025 APS steady growth in Nigerian agriculture was driven by expanded cultivated areas, improved practices, and farmer resilience across major producing states.

He said that the study also found out that food prices fell sharply across all six geopolitical zones.

These, according to him, include maize, rice, and sorghum prices dropping by more than 50 per cent nationally, which reflected improved food availability. 

(NAN)