Lagos: The Federal Government has been urged to balance consumer protection with farmers’ sustainability by ensuring timely food imports, input subsidies expansion, and price stabilisation mechanisms to secure investments across the agricultural value chain. An agriculture expert, Dr Fatai Afolabi, gave the advice at a forum organised by the Plantation Owners’ Forum of Nigeria (POFON), in collaboration with the Oil Palm and Other Oil Seeds Value Chain, highlighting the need for a strategic approach to food import policies.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the event, themed ‘Current Government Food Strategy, the Concomitant Effects and Implications for Food Security in Nigeria’, underscored the potential risks associated with recent food import policies. Afolabi cautioned that while these policies ease consumer prices, they could undermine local farmers and long-term food security if not carefully managed.
Afolabi pointed out that Nigeria’s food system is currently facing significant challenges, including inflationary pressures, climate variability, insecurity in major food-producing regions, and rising energy and logistics costs. He acknowledged the Federal Government’s decision to temporarily relax restrictions on selected food imports as a necessary step, noting the market’s quick response with reduced prices of major staples.
However, he observed that the policy, while providing relief to consumers, poses substantial challenges for local farmers and agriculture value chain investors. Production costs for Nigerian farmers remain high despite falling output prices, leading to distress across agricultural ecosystems.
Afolabi highlighted the plight of rice farmers, with reports indicating that approximately 3,500 rice farmers might exit cultivation after suffering estimated losses of over N93 billion. Cassava farmers also face challenges, selling produce at prices barely covering harvesting costs, while vegetable and edible oil producers struggle against competition from imported brands.
He emphasized that tree crops like oil palm and cocoa, requiring long gestation periods, are particularly vulnerable to market disruptions, which undermine investor confidence and discourage new investments. The effects ripple downstream to agro-processing and value addition, threatening farm incomes, rural employment, and agro-industrial growth, thus raising concerns about national food security.
Afolabi warned that sustained losses could drive farmers out of production, increasing Nigeria’s dependence on food imports and exposing the country to global supply shocks and foreign exchange pressures. He cited India and the Netherlands as examples of countries successfully balancing consumer protection with farmer sustainability through strategic food imports and robust domestic support systems.
To stabilize the current situation, Afolabi recommended carefully timed imports to avoid peak harvest periods, strengthened price stabilisation mechanisms, aggressive subsidies for critical farm inputs, and support for agro-processors. He also called for clear communication of policy intentions to reassure farmers of the temporary nature of import measures.
Afolabi concluded that affordable food and profitable farming are achievable with thoughtful coordination and sustained support for farmers, suggesting that Nigeria should develop and publish a national crop production and harvest calendar to align import decisions with documented supply gaps.