FG, States Urged to Modernise Small Holder Farming, Promote Agribusiness

Renowned food engineering expert, Professor Michael Ngadi, has called on Nigerian federal and state governments to place smallholder farmers and processors at the heart of their policy frameworks to achieve sustainable food security and strengthen agribusiness development.

Delivering a public lecture at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), titled “Modernising Smallholder Agrifood Systems”, Professor Ngadi emphasized the indispensable role smallholder actors play in feeding the nation. He noted that while over 70% of Nigerians engage in small-scale agriculture, their contributions remain underleveraged due to outdated practices, limited resources, and poor market access.

Ngadi, a Professor of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University, Canada, advocated for a comprehensive transformation of Nigeria’s agrifood systems—one that scales appropriately to meet the challenges of population growth, climate change, and economic sustainability. He stressed that smallholder farming should not be phased out but restructured to benefit from modern technologies and value chain integration.

He further proposed the adoption of appropriate-scale technologies that empower smallholders to optimize resources and compete in a modernized agribusiness environment.

Supporting this view, MOUAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe underscored the critical need for innovation across all aspects of farming to drive national food security.
Source: ThisDayLive

Expert Agri-Food Review for Stakeholders
Smallholders are Nigeria’s agrifood bedrock, yet they operate in a fragile system. The insights shared by Professor Ngadi reaffirm the urgent need for stakeholders—governments, agribusiness investors, agri-tech providers, and policy actors—to rethink and reform the current approach to smallholder engagement.

Key Strategic Insights:

1. Policy Must Prioritize Smallholders as Central Economic Actors
   Agriculture in Nigeria is largely smallholder-driven. However, national and state-level agricultural policies often lean toward commercial-scale operations, sidelining the real producers of food. Policy reform must redirect incentives, credit access, and training support toward smallholders as frontline contributors to food security.

2. Adopt Appropriate-Scale Technologies, Not Imported Blueprints
   Technology deployment must match the scale and reality of Nigerian smallholders. Introducing modular, adaptable agri-tech innovations in mechanization, post-harvest handling, and digital advisory can unlock productivity without overwhelming resource-limited farmers.

3. Redesign Market Linkages to Enable Competitiveness
   Smallholder productivity gains are meaningless without access to structured markets. Agri-financing models, guaranteed minimum price schemes, and aggregators must be redesigned to integrate smallholders into higher-value chains with fair returns.

4. Support Processing at the Grassroots to Add Value Locally
   Micro and small processors in rural areas are key to reducing post-harvest losses and creating jobs. Targeted incentives, energy access support, and training in food safety can help these actors scale and add value where it’s needed most.

5. Smallholder System Should Be Modernized, Not Marginalized
   Unlike industrial systems in developed nations, Nigeria’s agriculture is rooted in a large rural population. Phasing out smallholders is not feasible nor desirable. Instead, scaling them up through cooperative structures, land reforms, and digital inclusion is the sustainable path forward.

Conclusion
Modernising Nigeria’s agrifood sector must begin with strengthening the foundation—its smallholder farmers and grassroots processors. Their empowerment is not just a rural development goal but a national imperative for food security, inclusive growth, and agribusiness competitiveness.