The Federal Government says the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket project has generated agricultural produce valued at about ₦2.31 trillion over four planting seasons, positioning the programme as a major public investment tool for stabilising food prices and driving agricultural sector growth.
Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, stated this at a two-day NAGS AP stakeholders review and preparatory workshop held in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Thursday.
He said the project recorded 2, 536,184 metric tonnes of output across four seasons, adding that the scale of production had contributed to increased food supply, easing market prices nationwide.
The minister said the programme aligns with the Tinubu-led Administration’s emergency declaration on food and nutrition security aimed at improving availability affordability and quality of food while reducing inflationary pressure from food imports.
He explained that the NAGS AP project targets six staple crops, namely, wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean and cassava and is designed to close supply demand gaps while delivering measurable economic returns.
Abdullahi said Government would be preparing to scale up financing and implementation through the launch of the Japan International Cooperation Agency funded loan project and the National Agricultural Growth Scheme 2.0.
According to him the JICA project will focus on rice maize soybean and cassava production while NAGS 2.0 will concentrate on wheat and rice beginning from the 2026 wet season.
He added that under the 2025 2026 dry season farming cycle the project would support rice, maize and cassava production across all 36 States and the FCT, expanding nationwide coverage.
Speaking earlier, Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, said the workshop was convened to review past implementation processes identify bottlenecks and design a stronger framework for future delivery.
He said the revised framework includes an integrated ICT driven platform to improve coordination fund flow transparency and accountability among stakeholders including the Bank of Agriculture.
Ogunbiyi said the alignment between the NAGS AP project secretariat and the Bank of Agriculture is expected to strengthen implementation sustainability and deliver verifiable results.
Also speaking, Isiaku Ardo Buba, National Project Coordinator NAGS AP? said the programme goes beyond the provision of farm inputs to include institutional support, extension services and quality control for seeds and fertilisers.
He said agricultural extension agents as well as fertiliser and seed quality control officers would be deployed to boost productivity and ensure farmers receive certified inputs.
The workshop brought together lawmakers, financial institutions, farmer associations, agribusiness operators ICT providers and development partners to review the project framework and chart a roadmap for the next phase of implementation.
