Federal Gov’t To Launch Agribusiness Policy To Stabilise Food Prices

The Federal Government is set to launch the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) to strengthen agricultural productivity, stabilise food prices, and drive economic growth.

The NAPM is part of broader initiatives aimed at transforming the country’s agricultural sector through data-driven policies and public-private partnerships.

Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed this while speaking on Friday in Abuja during a meeting of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) Steering Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Shettima said the initiative will align agricultural efforts across all government tiers through real-time data analytics.

“The Green Imperative Project (GIP) is an idea whose time has come. It has been in the incubation period for several years, and now it is coming to fruition; we have to get it right.

“We have had many interventions in this country in the past. We must make this work, and it’s the states that will drive the process,” the Vice President said in a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha.

Signed between Nigeria and Brazil on March 17, 2025, the Green Imperative Project (GIP) is a $1.1 billion initiative aimed to modernise 774 mid-sized Nigerian farms with Brazilian agricultural technologies, creating jobs and boosting productivity across the nation.

The VP further disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has approved ₦15 billion for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to prepare for floods as the rainy season commences.

“This is one of the first proactive decisions by the government to prepare for the flooding season,” the Vice President noted.

Earlier, the Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture and Executive Secretary of PFSCU, Marion Moon, explained that NAPM aims to address challenges of high food inflation and agricultural yields that lag 60 per cent behind global averages.

She revealed that the pilot survey for NAPM has been completed across 13 states, with a full launch planned for June 2025.

The NAPM, supported by data analytics partnerships and a digital platform under development, is designed to tackle food inflation, inefficient subsidies, and outdated farming practices, to give the country a unified framework to optimise public spending and drive sustainable rural development.

Those present at the meeting include Governors of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi and Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji as well as Deputy Governor of Borno State, Umar Kadafur and his Ebonyi State counterpart, Patricia Onyemaechi Obila.

Others are Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi; Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; heads of agriculture and manufacturing private sector players, and international development partners.