Nigeria Loses ₦3.5trn Yearly to Post-Harvest Wastage – Minister
The Federal Government says Nigeria loses an estimated ₦3.5 trillion annually to post-harvest inefficiencies, a challenge that disproportionately affects smallholder farmers. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, revealed this at the just-concluded Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar, Senegal. He explained that the losses extend beyond wasted produce to lost opportunities, destroyed livelihoods, and weakened food security. To tackle the problem, Kyari announced the launch of the Nigeria Post-harvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST), designed to stabilise food prices, ensure availability and affordability of staples, and strengthen national food sovereignty. The initiative, in partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), will prioritise household storage technologies, community warehouses, cold rooms, and national silos managed through public-private partnerships. Kyari added that the programme would also foster investments in processing, preservation, packaging, climate-smart metal silos, and other storage […]