Peer-reviewed article
Contemporary Issues, Challenges and Solutions in Nigerian Agriculture: A Review of the Period 2020–2025
Akindele Akintola, S.B. Fakayode ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This review examines Nigeria's agricultural sector between 2020 and 2025, looking at challenges like poor infrastructure, climate change, and weak policy implementation. It draws on secondary data from various databases to assess agricultural transformation strategies. The review compares Nigeria's experience with international examples from Asia, Latin America, and the Sahel. It focuses on agricultural productivity, food security, and rural economic development rather than children's well-being specifically.
Key points
- Declining land and labour productivity, weak input and extension systems identified as barriers
- High post-harvest losses and limited agro-processing capacity noted
- Programmes like Anchor Borrowers' Programme and NIRSAL limited by weak implementation and exclusion of smallholders, women, and youth
- International experiences highlight importance of sustained public investment and farmer organisations
- Climate variability and insecurity identified as major challenges to agricultural transformation
Limitations
This document does not address child well-being, child rights, or any child-specific outcomes; it is focused on agricultural policy and economic development.
Abstract
Nigeria’s agricultural sector is central to food security, employment generation, economic diversification, and rural development, yet its transformative potential remains constrained by persistent structural, environmental, institutional, and socioeconomic challenges. This narrative review critically examines contemporary issues affecting Nigerian agriculture between 2020 and 2025, evaluates strategies for sectoral revitalisation, and draws lessons from relevant international experiences. Secondary data were obtained from peer-reviewed literature, policy documents, and national and international databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics, FAOSTAT, the World Bank, and FEWS NET. Evidence was synthesised thematically around key agricultural problems, transformation models, international experiences, and policy recommendations. The review identifies declining land and labour productivity, weak input and extension systems, inadequate irrigation, poor rural infrastructure, high post-harvest losses, limited agro-processing capacity, climate variability, environmental degradation, insecurity, policy inconsistency, underinvestment, land constraints, and unequal access to digital technologies and agricultural finance as major barriers to agricultural transformation. Although initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, NIRSAL, digital agriculture, climate-smart practices, and value-chain development have generated important opportunities, their impacts have been limited by weak implementation, institutional fragmentation, inadequate funding, and exclusion of smallholders, women, and youth. International experiences from Asia, Latin America, India, and the Sahel demonstrate the importance of sustained public investment, effective farmer organisations, community-led adaptation, integrated value-chain development, and stable policy institutions.