The conversation around food security in Nigeria cannot wait, and neither can we.
This past week, our Group Managing Director,
@johnalamu , took the stage at the
@nbcc_ng 2026 Agriculture & Agro-Allied Summit to deliver a keynote that challenged the status quo, confronted hard truths, and laid out a clear path forward.
His words were direct:
"We are not a poor country pretending to have an agriculture problem. We are a rich country that has made avoidable choices that produced an unnecessary crisis."
The numbers make sobering reading:
📊 34.7 million Nigerians face severe food insecurity in the 2026 lean season
📊 40–50% of fruits and vegetables are lost to post-harvest deterioration before reaching a single plate
📊 Nigeria allocated 1.75% of its national budget to agriculture in 2025, a fraction of the 10% Maputo Declaration commitment we signed but have yet to honour.
He laid out a roadmap built on three pillars:
🔬 Innovation — Scaling climate-smart agriculture, deploying satellite-driven crop monitoring, and investing in agro-processing that adds value at the farm gate rather than exporting raw commodities for others to profit from.
💰 Investment — Nigeria's transformation cannot be publicly financed alone. It demands bold blended finance: public funding, development capital, and private sector commitment working in concert.
📋 Policy — A costed, timebound National Food Security Strategy. Rural infrastructure reform. Peace as a prerequisite for agriculture. Trade policies that protect Nigerian farmers first. And full delivery on the Maputo Declaration's 10% budget commitment.
The solutions exist. The land is here. The people are ready. What Nigeria needs now is will, coordination, and capital, and we intend to be part of all three.
#foodsecurity #johnventsgroup #johnalamu #nbcc
