Nigeria agriculture faces export and financing gaps

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s agricultural sector are calling for a shift toward value addition and improved financing to address a significant disparity between production and export earnings. While agriculture contributes over 22 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it accounts for only 4.1 percent of merchandise exports.

At the Fifth FirstBank Agric & Export Expo in Lagos, industry leaders emphasized that current short-term commercial loans are inadequate for the long-term cycles of planting and harvesting. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu urged financial institutions to adapt credit structures to agribusiness realities and stressed that exporting raw commodities, such as cassava and cocoa, limits economic prosperity compared to processed goods.

In Adamawa State, the livestock sector contributes approximately 40 percent to the local GDP, yet its potential is hindered by insecurity and lack of infrastructure. Challenges such as cattle rustling and farmer-herder clashes have forced traders to move cattle to other states for slaughter, causing economic value to leak out of the region. Experts suggest that establishing local abattoirs, cold-storage facilities, and processing centers would retain value and drive industrialization through meat, dairy, and leather production.