The Federal Government has unveiled an ambitious Nigeria Postharvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST) to ensure a resilient, efficient, and inclusive postharvest handling and storage system that reduces losses, enhance incomes as well as achieve food sovereignty.
Speaking at the Nigeria Legacy Programme, organised by the Africa Food Systems Forum in partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in Dakar, Senegal, recently, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, stated that the NiPHaST programme would stabilise food prices, ensure availability, accessibility, affordability of stable food, improve storage system as well as achieve national food sovereignty
He said that the programme would focus on household storage technologies, community-level warehouses, cold rooms, and strategic national silos managed through public–private partnerships, among others.
Kyari pointed out that it would create robust investment in the storage value chain in terms of processing, preservation, packaging, marketing , climate, smart metal silos, and cold rooms, among others.
He added that the initiative would unlock private sector investment, strengthen market confidence, and expand storage infrastructure.
He noted that it also improves agricultural exports, nutrition, household sales, job opportunities, farmer’s income, and wealth as well as achieved food import substitution in the agricultural ecosystem.
The minister revealed that Nigeria loses an estimated ₦3.5 trillion annually to post-harvest inefficiencies, largely affecting small holder farmers.
“This is not just produce going to waste. It is opportunity lost and livelihoods destroyed,” he said.
Kyari called for stronger international collaboration, stressing that transforming post-harvest systems will secure farmer livelihoods, revive agribusiness confidence, and position Nigeria as a leading food supplier in West Africa.
In attendance were the Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar A. Namadi, Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma, Executive Secretary, National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, and the President of Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, among others
