The Chief Executive Officer of Farmally Investment Limited, Olatunji David, has raised concerns over the multiple structural and economic challenges affecting Nigeria’s agricultural and agrotech sector.
This is even as he noted that food inflation in the country is driven by a combination of insecurity, rising input costs, logistics constraints, and policy gaps.
Speaking during an appearance on Dissecting Nigeria Agrotech Industry, a programme aired on Arise TV, David said the current surge in food prices cannot be attributed to a single factor but rather to a chain of interlinked challenges across the agricultural value system.
According to him, insecurity has significantly reduced access to farmlands in several parts of the country, leading to a decline in production output.
He added that the situation has forced many farmers to scale down operations or abandon farms entirely, while also introducing additional unofficial costs for those still able to operate. This, he said, has disrupted supply chains between producing regions in the North and consuming markets in the South, ultimately contributing to scarcity and price increases.
David further explained that rising costs of inputs such as feed, fertiliser, and other farm essentials, combined with foreign exchange instability, have continued to place pressure on production. He also noted that post-harvest losses remain a major structural issue, further reducing the volume of food available to the market.
On logistics, he observed that transportation has become one of the most expensive components of the agricultural value chain. He linked this development to rising fuel costs, the removal of fuel subsidy, and poor road infrastructure, stressing that, in many cases, “moving food is now as expensive as producing it.”
While acknowledging the growing role of technology in agriculture, David maintained that agritech cannot independently resolve the sector’s challenges. He noted that digital platforms have improved access to funding, transparency, and market linkages but stressed that without stable policies, infrastructure, and security, technological innovation alone cannot transform the sector.
“Technology can improve agriculture, but it cannot fix a broken system on its own,” he said.
Looking ahead, David expressed optimism that Nigeria’s agricultural sector could experience significant transformation if properly supported by policy consistency and investment in both technology and infrastructure.
He noted that aligning agriculture with technology would improve food availability, reduce prices, create employment opportunities, and strengthen the broader economy through reduced import dependence and potential export growth.
He concluded that food security remains central to national stability, stressing that when agriculture is effectively managed, it has a ripple effect across the economy, the population, and the country’s long-term development trajectory.
Discussion about this post