The Federal Government, state governments, non-state actors and development partners have renewed their commitment to implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Kampala Declaration 2026-2035 to accelerate Nigeria’s agricultural transformation and strengthen food security.
The commitment was made on Monday in Maiduguri, Borno State, during the Annual Community of Practice (CoP) Meeting, organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with state governments, development partners and other stakeholders.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said effective alignment between the Federal Government, states and development partners was critical to achieving sustainable food security and resilient livelihoods.
Kyari said such alignment must go beyond policy statements to include compatible policies, reliable data, complementary investments and clearly defined responsibilities.
‘We need one coherent agrifood system in which national direction and state-level execution reinforce one another,’ the minister said.
He said the need for stronger coordination had become more important with the adoption of the Kampala CAADP Declaration and its Strategy and Action Plan for 2026-2035.
According to him, the Kampala framework adopts a broader agrifood systems approach, covering sustainable production, investment and finance, food and nutrition security, trade, inclusion, resilience and stronger governance.
Kyari said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had placed food security at the centre of the national agenda, adding that the Federal Government’s responsibility was to translate the mandate into increased production, affordable food, stronger rural economies and a resilient food system.
He disclosed that some essential food commodities had recorded price reductions of up to 50 per cent, alongside expanded input delivery, investments in rural infrastructure and support for smallholder farmers.
He, however, stressed the need to sustain and deepen the gains. The minister said Nigeria had developed and validated a 10-year National Agrifood System Strategy and Action Plan to domesticate the Kampala commitments, describing it as the vehicle for translating the framework into concrete action.
He said the strategy would provide a harmonised implementation framework with clear roles, responsibilities, timelines and accountability mechanisms.
Kyari added that CAADP Biennial Review indicators had been integrated into national planning, budgeting and reporting systems to help align federal and state budgets, reduce duplication and channel investments towards agreed priorities.
He urged states to leverage their comparative agricultural advantages rather than attempt to produce every commodity, stressing that the country’s diverse agricultural zones offered opportunities for specialised production supported by appropriate technology, infrastructure and market linkages.
On fertiliser supply, the minister said early procurement under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, now under the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, helped secure supplies for the 2026 farming season and generated N61.58 billion in savings.
He added that Nigeria was on course to deliver a 1.1 million metric-tonne fertiliser programme in 2026.
Kyari also highlighted the recently unveiled National Agricultural Mechanization Policy and National Agricultural Mechanization Investment Strategy, saying the initiatives would move the country away from fragmented equipment interventions towards a sustainable mechanisation ecosystem.
He disclosed that plans included the establishment of a mega tractor assembly plant with the capacity to produce between 2,000 and 4,000 tractors annually.
The minister further said the government was expanding all-season production through irrigation, improving access to quality seeds, supporting national agricultural research institutes and strengthening the translation of research into practical solutions for farmers.
He also highlighted the role of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones in connecting production areas with processing facilities and markets.
Kyari called for stronger participation of women and young people across agricultural value chains, as well as improved conditions for private investment and development finance.
He urged state governments to ensure their agricultural action plans were aligned with the Kampala commitments and national priorities, particularly in rural infrastructure, extension services, agricultural credit, quality inputs, labour-saving technologies, post-harvest loss reduction and climate-resilient agriculture.
The Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, represented by his deputy, Usman Kadafur, described the meeting as more than a gathering of policymakers and development practitioners, saying it provided an opportunity for shared learning, reflection and collective action.
Zulum said a Community of Practice should translate experience into knowledge, knowledge into action and action into measurable improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
Also speaking, the Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Nigeria, Dr Karin Jansen, said Germany welcomed Nigeria’s leadership in advancing the Kampala Agenda and was committed to supporting the country in moving from commitments to coordinated implementation.
Jansen stressed the importance of cooperation between the Federal Government and states, as well as the active participation of non-state actors, in transforming Nigeria’s agrifood systems.
She said the Community of Practice provided a mechanism for connecting national priorities with action at the state level while facilitating knowledge exchange, learning and joint problem-solving.
According to her, the first Community of Practice focused on developing a common understanding of the Kampala Declaration and strengthening state-driven implementation, while the second meeting represented a shift from understanding to implementation and from commitments to coordinated action.
She noted that Germany, through the Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Policies (AgSys) project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ, was supporting Nigerian partners to strengthen agricultural policy processes, scale successful approaches and enhance civil society participation.
In his closing remarks, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said Nigeria must move away from a siloed approach to agricultural development by encouraging states to focus on their specific comparative advantages.
He said the challenges facing Nigeria’s agrifood systems were multidimensional and required an integrated approach involving agriculture, health, the environment and rural development.
‘The nexus between food production, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and rural development is the cornerstone of our national prosperity,’ Abdullahi said.