Special Scheme Has Added N2.3trn To Agric Output In 4 Planting Seasons – Minister

The federal government says the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) project has added an estimated N2.31 trillion to agricultural output over four planting seasons, producing more than 2.53 million metric tonnes of staple crops nationwide.

The minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, disclosed this in Abuja at a two-day NAGS-AP stakeholders’ review and preparatory workshop on a modified implementation framework.

Abdullahi said the output was recorded across the project’s focus on six staple crops of wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean and cassava under the federal government’s food security emergency support programme.

He noted that the scheme’s performance has contributed to improved food availability and helped stabilise prices, with recent signs of a decline in food costs.

The minister said, “It is worthy of note that during the four seasons of NAGS-AP programme implementation, a total of 2,536,184 metric tonnes of produce were recorded, with an estimated value of N2,312,746,400,000.

“This significant milestone achievement has contributed substantially to increased food availability and the stabilisation of food prices in the country. Currently, food prices are declining, and efforts are being made to address the high cost of agricultural inputs in order to balance input and output costs”.

“I am pleased to inform you that the NAGS-AP Project, in addition to implementing one of the AfDB-funded Policy-Based Operations (PBO) projects, is making all necessary arrangements to commence the implementation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project and the National Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAGS 2.0) programme.

“The JICA loan project will focus on rice, maize, soybean, and cassava production, while NAGS 2.0 will cover wheat and rice production starting from the 2026 wet season. Under the 2025/2026 dry season farming, the project will focus on rice, maize and cassava production and it will cover all the 36 states and FCT,” he added.

The ministry’s permanent secretary, Marcus Ogunbiyi, said the workshop was convened to review past implementation bottlenecks and to validate a new framework designed to deepen collaboration among the project secretariat, the BOA, and other stakeholders.

Ogunbiyi added that the proposed framework includes an integrated ICT-driven platform that outlines the roles and responsibilities of all actors to ensure transparency, coordination, and sustainable impact.

Earlier, the national project coordinator of NAGS-AP, Ishaku Buba, said the project goes beyond the provision of critical farm inputs to include institutional support, the deployment of agricultural extension agents and the deployment of quality control officers for fertiliser and seeds to improve productivity and sustainability.