Food crisis may worsen without urgent investment
Timi Oke, CEO of AgroEknor and a leading voice in Nigeria’s agribusiness space, has issued a stark warning about the deepening food insecurity crisis facing the nation. Speaking at the GTR West Africa 2025 conference, Oke highlighted that Nigeria’s agricultural system is under critical threat from persistent inflation, climate change, inadequate rural infrastructure, and constrained farmer financing.
Oke emphasized that the current situation demands urgent, large-scale investments and comprehensive reforms to avoid national instability. He stressed that agriculture must be treated as a business—one that is inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and community-empowering—not as charity.
He outlined a three-pronged solution:
- Policy Reforms – removal of regulatory hurdles and increased farmer access to land and infrastructure.
- Technology Adoption – leveraging climate-smart farming and mobile financial platforms.
- Cross-Sector Collaboration – breaking silos between government, private investors, and development actors.
Oke noted that failure to act now will mean higher costs later, with rising malnutrition, poverty, urban migration, and potential unrest likely to follow. He concluded with a call for leadership, innovation, and a shared vision to ensure food security becomes a national right—not a privilege.
Source- Punch
Expert Review for Agri-Food Stakeholders
Oke’s address brings to the fore a critical truth: Nigeria’s agricultural crisis is not just about food—it is about economic survival, national security, and development sustainability. His remarks serve as a wake-up call for stakeholders to reassess priorities, adopt long-term systems thinking, and invest in the structural enablers of food security.
Below are the Key Implications and Strategic Opportunities;
- Repositioning Agriculture as a Viable Business Sector
Oke’s advocacy reinforces a long-overdue truth: agriculture is no longer subsistence—it’s a strategic economic sector. Stakeholders must start designing agribusiness models with bankable value chains, risk mitigation strategies, and impact-driven outcomes that appeal to both investors and development financiers. - Finance Models Must Evolve
Traditional funding mechanisms do not serve smallholder farmers or emerging agribusinesses effectively. There is an urgent need for innovative finance models—such as blended finance, green bonds, and pay-as-you-grow platforms—to de-risk agricultural investment and generate measurable social impact. - Regulatory Bottlenecks as Barriers to Scale
Stakeholders, especially in policymaking and advocacy, must actively engage government institutions to remove access restrictions to land, simplify licensing, and harmonize agricultural policies to promote private sector expansion. - Infrastructure + Innovation = Productivity
Technology cannot function in a vacuum. While climate-smart tools (like drip irrigation, crop insurance, and precision farming) are critical, their effectiveness depends on last-mile connectivity—rural roads, electricity, digital networks, and storage systems must be developed in parallel. - Long-Term Vision, Not Quick Fixes
Development programs must avoid short-termism. Donor agencies, banks, and impact investors should align with longer project horizons (5–10 years) that allow time for systems change and the building of resilient agricultural ecosystems.
Conclusion:
Timi Oke’s message is clear: Nigeria’s food security challenge is a ticking time bomb that requires more than rhetoric—it demands coordinated, strategic action across sectors. Agriculture must be reimagined as a national growth engine, not just a poverty-alleviation tool. Stakeholders who heed this call and invest in
