Agriculture
From The Report: Nigeria 2023
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Agriculture remains a linchpin of Nigeria’s economy, contributing nearly 25% to GDP and employing 70% of the country’s workforce. To leverage its arable land and favourable climate, and reverse its status as a net food importer, greater investment is needed to develop Nigeria’s downstream food processing and agri-business industries. The sector faces a number of challenges across its value chain, while global factors continue to affect prices. Climate change is exacerbating these challenges, as Nigeria experienced widespread flooding in September and October 2022. A combination of new initiatives and a stronger resolve to address the challenges facing the sector could improve output and quality.

This chapter contains interviews with Ayodeji Balogun, CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange; and Sefihait Kone, Managing Director, Bayer Nigeria.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Making gains: The authorities are implementing measures to boost production, create jobs and increase the sector’s contribution to GDP
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Contributing nearly 25% to GDP and employing 70% of the workforce, agriculture is both a key area of the economy and a way of life for Nigerians. Indeed, the agriculture sector was the country’s main export earner until oil and gas production became Nigeria’s economic mainstay. Since then, however, the country has become a net food importer. Key segments include livestock, forestry and fisheries. While recent years have seen major efforts to develop downstream food processing and agri-business…

Analysis

Zoning in: Special programmes introduced to support self-sufficiency in food production and create opportunities for growth
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Nigeria’s farming ecosystem has traditionally been localised, with smallholders living close to their land. Surplus produce is generally transported to local markets, but farmers face several challenges when greater distances are involved. These are often a result of the state of roads or rail connections, security issues or bad weather, with the latter becoming increasingly prevalent due to climate change. Moreover, farmers need to move products to distant areas that have factories, mills and…

Interview

Seeds of success: Sefihait Kone, Managing Director, Bayer Nigeria, on boosting food security via funding opportunities for smallholder farmers
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Interview:Sefihait Kone How can public-private partnerships (PPPs) mobilise capital to narrow the agricultural funding gap? SEFIHAIT KONE: Access to affordable financing remains a key challenge in the agricultural sector, especially for smallholder farmers who account for more than 80% of the production base in sub-Saharan Africa. This funding gap is driven mainly by the notion that agri-lending is too risky. PPPs are well positioned to dispel this notion by developing innovative and tailor-made…

Interview

Innovative support: Ayodeji Balogun, CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange, on improving farmers’ access to the financial ecosystem
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Interview:Ayodeji Balogun What are the challenges to successful capital allocation for the production, trading and processing of agro-commodities in Nigeria? AYODEJI BALOGUN: Agriculture remains pivotal to the development of Nigeria’s economy, contributing an average of 23% to the country’s GDP per year over the last decade. The agriculture sector grew by 1.34% year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2022, an increase of 0.12 percentage points from the corresponding period in…