Deputy Speaker, Kalu Urges Collective Action to Boost Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector

 

 

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has called on stakeholders in the agriculture sector to work together to address the country’s food security challenges.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) on Thursday in Abuja, Kalu emphasized the importance of unity and collective action in transforming the sector.

 

He noted that agriculture is central to Nigeria’s future, not marginal, and that every job created in the sector feeds a household and keeps young people employed.

 

He urged farmers to organize, embrace technology, and increase productivity, while also calling on the government to establish a formal dialogue with agricultural leaders and develop sector-wide roadmaps.

 

He said: “To AFAN leadership: Establish a formal dialogue with the government on priority constraints. Develop sector-wide roadmaps for major commodities (maize, rice, poultry, horticulture). Create working groups on infrastructure, finance, technology, and markets. Be the architect of Nigeria’s agricultural future, not merely its commentator.

 

“To state governments: Allocate at least 5% of your budget to agricultural infrastructure. Implement the market mapping frameworks we have pioneered. Use data to target investments. Hold yourselves accountable for agricultural output and job creation in your states.

 

“To the private sector: Take risks. Invest in processing, in logistics, in market systems. Work with smallholders as partners, not vendors. Build the ecosystems that will make Nigeria a regional agricultural powerhouse.

 

“To farmers: Organize. Embrace technology. Increase your productivity. You are not asking for charity; you are building wealth and feeding a nation. Demand the infrastructure and services you deserve.

 

“To all stakeholders: Remember this: agriculture is not marginal to Nigeria’s future. It is central. Every job created in agriculture is a household fed and a young person kept in the country rather than pushed toward cities or external migration. Every productivity gain in farming is stability in the polity.

 

“We have the resources. We have the policy environment. We have the partnerships. What we lack is unified will.

 

“Let us demonstrate that will here, today, and carry it back to our constituencies, our businesses, our farms, and our communities.

 

“The future of food security in Nigeria rests not with government alone, but with the collective action of this association and the millions of Nigerians who till the soil, trade the harvest, and feed the nation”.