Food security at risk as agriculture budget shrinks despite N1trn projection —Lawmakers

By Christiana Ekpa

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has outlined ongoing efforts to strengthen domestic food production and reverse food insecurity, just as he said funding limitations, high input costs and structural bottlenecks continue to weigh heavily on farmers across the country.
Presenting the ministry’s 2026 budget proposal before a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Agricultural Production, Services and Rural Development, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said government interventions are focused on expanding production, improving sustainability and stabilising the nation’s food system.
He said the ministry’s strategy is anchored on the food security emergency declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with emphasis on scaling agricultural output across value chains and strengthening the resilience of farmers.
He thanked lawmakers for their continued support to the ministry through successive budget cycles and reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to prudent utilisation of public resources.
According to him, despite prevailing financial constraints, Nigerian farmers have shown strong commitment to production, with government surveys indicating marginal increases in output. He noted, however, that sustaining those gains requires addressing the structural challenges confronting producers nationwide.
He told the joint committee that the ministry had submitted its Agricultural Performance in Nigeria report covering 2024 and 2025 to provide lawmakers with evidence of ongoing interventions and outcomes across the sector.
On budget implementation, Abdullahi explained that personnel expenditure under the 2025 appropriation was largely implemented, but capital project execution has been significantly constrained by delayed releases. For the main ministry, about 30 per cent of the capital allocation representing roughly N18 billion is yet to be released.
He added that only funds tied to constituency related projects have seen partial disbursement, with about N19.8 billion released so far.