Kalu Asks Farmers To Invest In Food Processing, Export Diversification

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, urges Nigerian farmers to invest in food processing, export diversification for economic development.

He stated this at the landmark Annual General Assembly of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), held yesterday in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, he underscored the Federal Government’s commitment, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, to ensuring food security for all Nigerians.

Hon. Kalu highlighted that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook projects agricultural GDP growth to remain resilient at 3.5%-4.5%, driven by increased investment in farming inputs, extension services, and post-harvest infrastructure.

While this projection is encouraging, he noted that growth in a sector comprising over 40 million farming households means little if it is concentrated among a few large-scale operators while smallholders remain trapped in subsistence cycles.

According to him, the challenge is not merely to grow agriculture, but to grow agriculture inclusively.

The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has signalled a decisive shift toward agriculture as a strategic priority. The removal of fuel subsidies, though painful in the short term, has redirected billions of naira toward agricultural mechanisation, input distribution, and rural infrastructure.

The declaration of a national state of emergency on food security, the implementation of the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP), and the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) are now yielding tangible results in key zones.

“I want to commend this administration for the political courage required to implement these reforms. Easy policies do not create transformation; they create illusion. The President has chosen clarity over comfort, and we are beginning to see the dividends,” he said.

Hon. Kalu emphasised that Nigeria’s agricultural revolution will not be driven solely by large-scale estates, but by the incremental intensification of the nation’s 40 million smallholder farmers. A smallholder farmer who increases yield by 50%, from 1.5 tons per hectare to 2.25 tons per hectare, contributes more to national output than a single large estate increasing production from 10 to 15 tons per hectare.

This, he explained, is due to scale and distribution. Productivity gains among smallholders, spread across millions of households, create employment multipliers, strengthen local economies, and stabilise the polity.

He charged AFAN with being the voice of farmers and agricultural stakeholders within government circles and with demanding that improved cultivation practices and post-harvest mechanisms be embedded in every agricultural program.

Nigeria currently exports approximately $3 billion (₦4.44 trillion) worth of agricultural products annually, largely cocoa, cashew, and sesame. By comparison, Côte d’Ivoire exports over $4 billion in cocoa alone, while India exports more than $40 billion in agricultural products.

“We export raw cocoa, not chocolate. We export unprocessed cashew, not cashew products. We export sesame seeds, not tahini or sesame oil,” he noted.

According to him, a strategic push toward export diversification and value addition could create millions of jobs and generate over $10 billion in annual foreign exchange earnings within five years.

He further stated that while the government is advancing this agenda, the private sector must take the lead. AFAN members willing to organise processing ventures, invest in export-quality production, and navigate international markets deserve full support through policy, partnerships, and, where appropriate, procurement preferences.

He urged AFAN leadership to establish formal dialogue with the government on priority constraints, develop sector-wide roadmaps for key commodities such as maize, rice, poultry, and horticulture, and create working groups focused on infrastructure, finance, technology, and markets.

Addressing state governments, he called for allocating at least 5% of state budgets to agricultural infrastructure, adopting data-driven market-mapping frameworks, and holding accountable for agricultural output and job creation.

To the private sector, he urged greater risk-taking in processing, logistics, and market systems, while partnering with smallholders as collaborators rather than vendors.

To farmers, he encouraged organisation, adoption of technology, and increased productivity, emphasising that they are not seeking charity but building wealth and feeding the nation.

Nigeria’s future, he stressed, is deeply tied to agriculture. Every job created in the sector feeds a household and keeps young people productively engaged within the country. Every gain in farm productivity strengthens national stability.

“We have the resources. We have a policy environment. We have partnerships. What we lack is unified will,” he said.

He concluded by urging stakeholders to demonstrate that collective will and carry it back to their constituencies, businesses, farms, and communities, noting that the future of food security in Nigeria rests not with government alone, but with the collective action of AFAN and the millions of Nigerians who till the soil, trade the harvest, and feed the nation.