By Felicia Imohimi
ActionAid Nigeria has called for strict enforcement of timelines for the delivery of agricultural inputs under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme-Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) Wheat Intervention Programme to ensure improved productivity.
The organisation made the call on Wednesday in Abuja while presenting findings from its assessment of the NAGS-AP Wheat Intervention Programme for the 2023 to 2025 dry season farming cycles.
Deputy Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs Suwaiba Muhammad-Dankabo, said the report was titled “Beyond the Official Narratives: AAN Community Scorecard Report on the NAGS-AP Wheat Dry Season Farming Programme in Nigeria”.
It examined the implementation of the wheat component of the programme during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 dry seasons.
She said the assessment revealed that delayed input delivery, limited access to finance, coordination gaps and other structural challenges were affecting the programme’s expected impact.
“The report examines the implementation of the wheat component of Agro-Pocket under NAGS for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 dry season farming programme.
“Field findings reveal that structural bottlenecks, particularly delayed input delivery, financial barriers for smallholder farmers and coordination weaknesses, continue to undermine the programme’s potential,” she said.
Muhammad-Dankabo noted that Nigeria still depends heavily on imported wheat, spending billions of dollars annually to meet domestic demand.
She explained that the NAGS-AP wheat intervention, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) with 134 million dollars, was designed to reduce import dependence, expand dry-season wheat farming and increase local production.
“The programme was designed to deliver subsidised inputs to smallholder wheat farmers, expand dry-season farming, reduce import dependence and strengthen domestic food production.
“However, sustainable wheat expansion requires stronger institutions, improved seed systems, irrigation investments and deeper integration of extension services,” she added.
The ActionAid official recommended the development of a National Wheat Seed Multiplication Strategy to reduce dependence on imported seeds and promote local research tailored to Nigeria’s agro-ecological zones.
She also called for a zonal wheat suitability framework and gender-responsive agricultural support mechanisms.
According to her, state governments should strengthen agricultural extension services by recruiting and deploying more extension agents, including female agents, to support women farmers.
Muhammad-Dankabo urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, NAGS-AP Secretariat, AfDB and other stakeholders to prioritise the report’s recommendations.
“The wheat farmers of Nigeria, especially women smallholders who contribute significantly to food production, deserve a programme that works.
“They deserve transparency, accountability and results,” she said.
Presenting the report, Mr Tunde Salman, Team Lead, Tunde Salman Jimoh Consult, said Nigeria’s annual wheat demand stood between five million and six million metric tonnes, while local production remained significantly low.
He said the country currently produces about 125,000 metric tonnes annually and spends about two billion dollars on wheat importation.
“Global shocks, including disruptions to the Russia-Ukraine supply chain, exposed Nigeria’s vulnerability and reinforced the need for interventions such as NAGS-AP to drive import substitution,” he said.
Salman explained that the 134 million-dollar AfDB-supported NAGS-AP intervention aimed to increase average wheat yield from about 1.1 metric tonnes per hectare to 3.5 metric tonnes per hectare through subsidised inputs, ICT-based support, extension services and financial risk mitigation.
He said the report recommended moving from the current 50 per cent subsidy model to a 75 per cent subsidy threshold targeted at verified women and smallholder farmers, while reviewing the role of the Bank of Agriculture in agricultural financing. (NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Tosin Kolade
