You go to market. Garri that was N800 is now N2,500. Rice that was N30k is now N80k. Is it because we don’t have land? No!
Nigeria has over 70 million hectares of arable land, 75% of our total land area, yet we cultivate only a fraction of it.
We are a country of farmers, but we import food we can grow — rice, fish, wheat, sugar. According to CBN, we spent $2.34 billion on food imports in 2025 alone — down slightly from $2.53bn in 2024, but still huge. That money should be in the pockets of our own farmers in Benue, Kebbi, Ebonyi, Kaduna. 8317
Why?
- No storage – A tomato farmer in Jos loses up to 50% before it reaches Lagos because there is no cold room.
- No security – Farmers can’t go to farm in many LGAs.
- No mechanization – We still farm with cutlass while Brazil farms with tractors. Only about 20% of our arable land is cultivated.
What a better version looks like:
Imagine if every LGA had:
- A small storage / cold room for tomatoes, onions, fish.
- A tractor hiring center at LGA — farmers book like Uber. FG already plans Mechanization Service Centres in all 774 LGAs for this reason.
- A security team that protects farmlands, not just politicians.
If rice from Kebbi can feed Nigeria, and yams from Benue can feed Africa, then Nigeria can never be hungry again. Food security is national security.
Your action today:
Buy one local food today on purpose, local rice, local palm oil, local fish. And ask your LGA Chairman: “Where is our LGA farm storage? Where is our tractor center?”
When we grow what we eat, we create jobs and our money stays here.
