THE NEWS CHRONICLES discovered that Nigeria’s annual post-harvest loss of N3.5 trillion exceeds the country’s combined five-year government agriculture budget.
The most populous country in Africa has estimated post-harvest loss to be three times greater than the N1.13 trillion five-year federal agriculture budget, which has led to criticism of the government’s food security plans.
Post-harvest loss for grains is five to twenty percent; for fish, it is twenty percent; and for tubers, fruits, and vegetables, it is between fifty and sixty percent, according to experts and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), post-harvest losses account for around half of Nigeria’s fresh agricultural produce losses.
African Farmer Mogaji, the former head of agriculture at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that “reducing post-harvest losses will help Nigeria increase its food supply without necessarily increasing its production.”
Chief Executive Officer of X-ray Consulting Limited Mogaji stated, “We are experiencing a worsening food crisis with surging hunger levels, and tackling our huge post-harvest losses is critical in addressing these issues.”
He pointed out that while the federal government has unveiled immediate, short- and long-term plans to increase the supply of food, there is a deficiency in the infrastructure needed to address post-harvest losses and food waste.
He pointed out that most agricultural produce is wasted due to transportation and storage issues, which no one is addressing.
The lack of essential infrastructure in Nigeria’s food supply chain, including motorable rural roads and storage facilities, fuels significant post-harvest losses, lowers farmers’ profits, raises production costs, and has a detrimental effect on output.
The infrastructure gap in Nigeria must be filled with $3 trillion over the course of 30 years, according to credit rating company Agusto and Co.
Ololade Enikuomehin, a plant pathology professor at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, stated, “That would naturally have positive implications for bringing down prices and increasing supply if we are able to tackle the high volume of food losses.”
In his view, the Federal Government has to assist farmers by providing vital infrastructure that lowers the startlingly high incidence of post-harvest losses in the nation.
The professor stated, “There have been many government interventions through their policy and provisions where farmers don’t have to bother about how to preserve their produce on their own in other climes where post-harvest losses have been reduced.”
“So, government policy must improve infrastructure availability for farmers. The government’s policy must shift to prioritize agriculture so that access to infrastructure decreases post-harvest losses.”
More than 200 million people live in Nigeria, and they need to be nourished with basics like corn, rice, and beans.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that the annual rate of population growth is 2.6%, there is still a shortage of most staple commodities.
Nigeria’s population is expected to reach above 300 million by 2050, according to the World Population Prospects 2017 report.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture’s Agriculture Promotion Policy (2016–2020) document, which indicates a 20.14 million tonnes crop deficit and a 60 million poultry bird shortage, brought attention to Nigeria’s growing food deficit.
According to Abiodun Olorundenro, operations manager of Aquashoots Limited, “we do not grow enough because farmers are still using old techniques coupled with rising insecurity.”
“Our food deficit will increase tremendously if we continue to lose many of the already harvested crops,” stated Olorundenro.
“Our production has not increased despite the rapid growth of our population. Customers are now paying more for the limited foods that are accessible as a result of this,” he concluded.
