Farmers warn Nigerians of looming food crisis in 2025

Says food inflation at all-time high of 39.93%

As Nigerians usher in the new year, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has sounded the alarm on a looming food insecurity crisis, warning that Nigeria is on the brink of a catastrophe if urgent action is not taken.

Arc. Ibrahim Kabir, National President of AFAN and President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), issued this warning in his New Year message early January.

Arc. Kabir emphasized the need for extreme care in order to avert the impending disaster.

To address the crisis, Kabir called on governments, development partners, institutions and farmers to join forces and intervene urgently.

Efforts, he said, will include supporting agricultural production, providing emergency food assistance, and addressing the root causes of food insecurity.

He expressed deep concern about the current hunger crisis, which has severely impacted the lives of Nigerians and farmers alike.

Kabir stressed that he raised this issue with the utmost sense of responsibility, having dedicated much of his 66 years to agricultural advocacy.

He called on governments, development partners, institutions, and farmers to collaborate and take immediate action to address the crisis.

He said: “Nigeria is on the brink of a major food insecurity catastrophe if urgent steps are not taken, considering the macroeconomic instability caused by currency volatility, insecurity, climate change, and inequality.

“While not trying to sound despondent, I hasten to say that the attainment of food sufficiency for Nigerians in the first quarter of 2025 may be the elixir for the continued existence of Nigeria as a working unit.

“I say this with all sense of responsibility having been involved in Agricultural advocacy for the better part of my 66 years on earth.

“In 2024 we saw various efforts at stabilizing Nigeria’s food system through various windows of support to the SHFs, the MSMEs, the SSPs and the vulnerable people but food inflation is still at an all-time high at 39.93% which portends extreme hunger to a very good number of Nigerians.

“In 2025 we must coalesce as stakeholders/farmers with government to get Nigeria out of the stranglehold of hunger and extreme poverty.

“We can only do this if we work as a unified body with common interests and operating from common ground.

‘’In the first quarter of 2025 and precisely around Mid-February, we have planned to hold a Presidential Round Table, PRT, as Nigeria Agribusiness Group, NABG, as a wake-up-call to all SHFs, SSPs, the entire private sector  as well as the government and all its MDAs with cross-cutting responsibilities in agriculture, with the sole purpose of reinvigorating Nigeria’s entire food system.

“Upon the successful convening of the PRT, I believe we will be able to evolve a strategy to make Nigeria semi-food sufficient in the short-term within 2025 and in the medium-term in 2027 and finally attain sustainable food security in 2030!

“It may appear ambitious but evidently doable through a collective resolve to extricate our country from looming existential challenges.

“This is the real renewed hope agenda to my mind!” he added.