52% farmers pessimistic for Nigeria’s agricultural sector in 2026 — Report
By Matthew Denis
A survey conducted by Veriv Africa on food prices in Nigeria has revealed that a notable 52 percent of farmers have a pessimistic outlook for the country’s agricultural sector in 2026.
Veriv Africa, a research and advisory firm, announced the release of its highly anticipated inaugural food price baseline survey report on Sunday. This comprehensive analysis examines food price dynamics across six key crop value chains in Nigeria.
The statement, published on its website, indicates that the report marks a significant milestone in the development of the Veriv Africa Food Data Dashboard for Nigeria. The initiative aims to provide accurate and timely market intelligence to stakeholders within the Nigerian agricultural sector.
The survey, conducted in February 2025, engaged 543 smallholder farmers across five key states: Ondo (cocoa), Kano (sesame, beans), Niger (rice, corn), Kaduna (tomatoes), and Benue (yam). The findings provide essential insights into farmer demographics, sentiments, challenges, and priorities, laying the foundation for data-driven decision-making and policy formulation.
The section on Farmer Demographics & Challenges revealed that 84% of the surveyed farmers operate on small landholdings of 1 to 4 acres, largely relying on family labour. Access to finance remains a significant barrier, with 60% of farmers funding their operations through personal savings, while only 12% have access to formal credit. The most pressing challenges cited by farmers include a lack of finance (54%), insecurity (21%), and post-harvest losses (12%).
Concerning Farmer Sentiments & Priorities, the survey indicated that while 64% of farmers reported feeling economically better off due to recent high crop prices, a significant 52% expressed a pessimistic outlook for Nigeria’s agricultural sector in the coming year.
This is as 82.5% of farmers plan to continue cultivating their primary crops, although those considering switching crops cited high input costs, pests, diseases, and low yields as their main reasons. The most urgently requested interventions from farmers include access to finance (52%), improved security (22%), and subsidised inputs (19%).
Based on these findings, the report outlines several critical recommendations to improve Nigeria’s agricultural productivity and support smallholder farmers.
Immediate and decisive action is needed to address the escalating issues of farmer-herder conflicts and rural kidnappings, which pose significant threats to farming activities and livelihoods. Secondly, prioritising investments in essential rural infrastructure such as roads, irrigation systems, electricity supply, and storage facilities through public-private partnerships is crucial to reducing post-harvest losses and improving market access.
The report also calls for a comprehensive overhaul of the agricultural credit system to remove barriers related to collateral and residency, thus enabling smallholder farmers to access much-needed financial resources. Furthermore, it praises the success of private-sector investments, such as Tomato Jos in Kaduna, which demonstrated the potential of modern processing techniques to boost yields and incomes. The report strongly recommends the revival of Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZs), drawing lessons from the defunct Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), which significantly increased formal agricultural lending and food production.
To address critical knowledge gaps, the report advocates for a strategic initiative to train and deploy 50,000 digitised agricultural extension agents by 2026, with a focus on key states such as Benue, Kaduna, and Niger.
This Food Price Survey Report for Nigeria provides a crucial baseline for understanding the current state of key crop prices in the country. The survey also documents a baseline for crop prices across the surveyed regions, offering a snapshot of market conditions at the time of data collection.
The recorded prices were as follows: cocoa at N110,000 per 50kg bag, sesame at N102,305.19 per 50kg bag, farm-priced un-milled rice at N43,750 per 50kg bag, yam at N39,423.08 per 50-tuber group, corn at N36,309.52 per 50kg bag, and tomato at N12,500 per 50kg basket. These figures provide valuable insight into the challenges and concerns raised by the farmers.