years. In both 2023 and 2024, the agriculture ministry’s capital budget included line items for tailoring workshops, grinding machine distribution and laptop donations, all filed under agricultural development.
Meanwhile, agricultural output continues to decline despite rising budgetary allocations. According to the Business Confidence Monitoring (BCM) report published by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group and Stanbic IBTC, agriculture has been Nigeria’s worst-performing business sector since January 2024.
The BCM report highlights low investor sentiment, stagnant growth, and shrinking employment and capacity within the sector.
Food inflation has only recently begun to ease after reaching critical levels. In 2024, food prices rose by up to 40 per cent.
Although the Consumer Price Index reports a decline to 21.26 per cent in April 2025 from 23.1 per cent in January, the current rate remains in the territory of galloping inflation.
Food insecurity has also worsened. According to international monitoring agencies, 6.9 million Nigerians fell into acute food insecurity in 2024 alone. This figure accounted for 23 per cent of the global increase in food-insecure people recorded that year.
Experts warn that the crisis could deepen in 2025, as insecurity, climate shocks and high input costs continue to undermine food production in key farming regions.
Despite these challenges, the agriculture ministry’s capital budget continues to absorb constituency projects with limited or no relevance to the sector.
Most of these projects are initiated by legislators who sit on powerful budget committees and who represent urban or semi-urban constituencies.
FIJ estimates that the total sum of N785 million for hairdressing and barber-related projects in the 2025 agriculture budget covers vocational training, equipment supply and small business support.
These initiatives primarily benefit urban residents and political constituencies, not farmers or agricultural value chains.