Nigeria’s Annual Post-Harvest Losses Hits N3.5Trn-Agric Minister
Senator Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, has said that Nigeria loses an estimated ₦3.5 trillion annually to post- harvest losses and inefficiencies, which largely affect small holder farmers in the country.
Kyari stated this at the Nigeria Legacy Programme, organised by the Africa Food Systems Forum in Partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in Dakar, Senegal.
Describing the ugly situation, he said: “This is not just agricultural produce going to waste. It is opportunity lost and livelihoods destroyed.”
This was contained in a statement on Sunday issued by Mr. Ezeaja Ikemefuna, Head, Information Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The minister, announced that the Federal Government had unveiled an ambitious Nigeria Post- harvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST), to ensure a resilient, efficient, and inclusive post- harvest handling and storage system that reduces losses, enhance incomes as well as achieve food sovereignty.
He stated that the NiPHaST Programme would stabilise food prices, ensure availability, accessibility, affordability of stable food, improve storage system as well as achieve national food sovereignty.
The Minster said that the programme would focus on household storage technologies, community-level warehouses, cold rooms, and strategic national silos managed through public–private partnerships, among others.
He pointed out it would create robust investment in the storage value chain in terms of processing, preservation, packaging, marketing , climate, smart metal silos and cold rooms.
He added that the initiative would unlock private sector investment, strengthen market confidence and expand storage infrastructure.
He noted that it would also improve agricultural exports, nutrition, household sales, job opportunities, farmer’s income, and wealth as well as achieve food import substitution in the agricultural ecosystem.
Kyari, therefore, called for stronger international collaboration, stressing that transforming pos- tharvest systems will secure farmer livelihoods, revive agribusiness confidence, and position Nigeria as a leading food supplier in West Africa.
In attendance were Jigawa State Governor, Mal. Umar Namadi, Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma, Executive Secretary, National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, President, Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, among others.
