Nigeria Spends $10bn Yearly on Food Imports, Says Minister

Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually on food imports, including wheat, rice, sugar, fish, and even tomato paste, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has revealed.

Kyari, represented by his Special Adviser, Ibrahim Alkali, spoke on Tuesday at the First Bank of Nigeria Agric and Export Expo in Lagos. He expressed concern over the country’s rising food import bill despite its vast agricultural potential.

“Agriculture already contributes 35 per cent to our GDP and employs about 35 per cent of our workforce. Nigeria sits on 85 million hectares of arable land with a youthful population, yet we account for less than 0.5 per cent of global agro-exports,” Kyari said.

According to him, the country currently earns less than $400 million from agro exports, a figure he described as too low for a nation of Nigeria’s size and resources. He stressed the urgent need for greater investment in agriculture to boost local production and build a strong non-oil export economy.

Kyari reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to food sovereignty, insisting that Nigeria must reduce its dependency on imports and ensure that no citizen goes hungry due to global supply cha

in shocks.