Summary

This conversation delves into the appraisal and analysis of the Nigerian agriculture budget for 2025-2026, focusing on its implications for farmers, food security, and the overall economy. The discussion features insights from agricultural professionals on the effectiveness of past budgets, the importance of accountability, and the need for strategic investments in the agricultural sector. Key themes include the role of smallholder farmers, cottage industries significance, value addition, post harvest losses, mechanization, purchasing power of the budget, the necessity for fiscal responsibility, disbursement matching allocation, and local and state governments focus.

Moderators:

• Toheeb Azeez, Founder & CEO of Heebgrow Foods and The Lasgidi Farmer Podcast

• Alfred Ukane, Founder Chuvaak Agro Services & CEO Melora Farms

• Afeez Olumide Garuba, Founder Voice of The Farmers

Guest Speakers

• Oluwaseun Adeyemi (Seun): Wealth management professional at CI Financial in Canada.

• Jerry Tobi Olanrewaju: Jet Farms & Agro Solutions Ltd, Founder of Farm2C Africa, & D’More Food and Spices (nutrition-focused value addition).

Background

This is a sequel, 2nd Edition, to the first of its kind and edition held last year 2025 appraising the Nigerian agriculture budget.

This event sought to promote 2026 agriculture budget productivity, effectiveness, performance, and impact by appraising the previous year's budget and performance, learning from what failed, what worked and adapting lessons for current one.

One failure highlighted was disbursement not matching allocation and important projects starved of critical funds but while ambiguous items seized funds and never executed.

The discussion also analyzed the present budget which nearly doubled from last year reaching 1.45 trillion and with greater percentage share of the national budget.

We deliberated on whether this budget increase had much to offer and also the real purchasing power of the budget looking at different macroeconomic indices -inflation, exchange rates and production cost, etc. -from last year, and deduced that despite a higher exchange rates the purchasing power was still better with stable rates but considered the implication of importation of important inputs for farming not manufactured locally.

The budget failing to attain recommendation percentage was underscored but the increase was lauded, however, productive use of funds was emphasized.

We also looked at the incredible budgets items for instance the Renewed Hope, agric ministry HQ construction and thought the funds could be redirected to cottage industries, value addition and addressing wastages, mechanization and extension.

The need for long planning, policy transition, and accountability focusing on local government and state chapter of federal agriculture ministry were stressed.

Takeaways

• The 2025/26 Nigerian agriculture budget aims to enhance food security and support farmers.
• Accountability in budget allocation is crucial for effective implementation.
• Cottage industries can significantly improve farmers' profitability.
• Cold chain development is essential to reduce post-harvest losses.
• Investment in agriculture must focus on practical outcomes for smallholder farmers.
• The government should prioritize fiscal responsibility in budget management.
• Agricultural policies need to be consistent and long-term to be effective.
• Local governments play a vital role in agricultural development and must be held accountable.
• The budget should reflect the needs of farmers and not be politicized.
• Collaboration between government and private sectors is necessary for agricultural growth.

Sound bites

"We need to focus on industrialization."

"The budget is good, but we can do more."

"We need a 25-year agricultural plan."

Keywords

Nigerian agriculture, budget analysis, food security, smallholder farmers, agricultural policy, budget accountability, cottage industry, cold chain, fiscal responsibility, investment in agriculture