Caleb Onwe 
As Nigeria joins other countries to mark this year’s World Food Day, the Federal Government on Friday announced that it has commenced a 500,000-hectare dry-season farming initiative in some states of the federation.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, disclosed this in Abuja during a press briefing.
Abdullahi noted that the first phase of the initiative is the wheat production improvement scheme that has started in 15 states, while the second phase will focus on rice, cassava and maize.
He stated that the government has also rolled out other initiatives targeted at achieving more food security in the country.
He said, “These agricultural production gains were driven by modest expansion in cultivated areas, improved farming practices, and resilience across major producing states, thereby reinforcing food security and sustaining agro-industrial value chains.
“ In addition, we are implementing a Dry Season Initiative for all-year-round farming on 500,000 hectares. The first phase started with a focus on wheat in 15 wheat-producing states. The second phase covers rice, maize and cassava”.
He further disclosed that apart from increasing food production, efforts are also ongoing to invest more in the Agricultural value chain development.
“ The government is scaling up industrial transformation across the agricultural value chain through the rollout of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), supported by the African Development Bank funded and other development partners. Phase one, covering Kaduna, Cross River, Kano, Kwara, Imo, Ogun, Oyo, and the FCT of the 5-year programme, has already flagged off in Kaduna and Cross River in April 2025.
“ The programme aims to boost agricultural output by over 60%, reduce post-harvest losses by 80%, promote value addition, create jobs, and improve market access.
“Through the SAPZ project, Nigeria aims to accelerate its shift towards an agro-industrial economy, supporting broader national diversification efforts”, he added.
