Stakeholders across Nigeria’s oil palm, soybean and vegetable oil value chains have warned that a surge in imports, weak border enforcement and policy inconsistency are pushing the sector toward crisis, threatening billions of dollars in investment and millions of rural jobs.
At a press conference on Wednesday convened by Fatai Afolabi, industry leaders stated that the Federal Government’s recent food import adjustments, although aimed at easing consumer prices, are depressing farm-gate prices below production costs and destabilising domestic producers.
In his keynote address, Afolabi said while food price moderation had brought relief to households, “beneath this welcome price moderation lies a more troubling reality for local farmers and agriculture value chain investors.”
He warned that approximately 3,500 rice farmers were contemplating exiting production after incurring estimated losses of N93 billion, adding that similar distress was spreading across the cassava, vegetable oil, and tree crop segments.
“Food security is not solely about ensuring that food is available and affordable today,” Afolabi said. “It is also about safeguarding the capacity of local producers to continue producing tomorrow.”
Emmanuel Ibru, chairman of the Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), said a proliferation of imported vegetable oil late last year had sharply undercut domestic producers.
“You can imagine what the effect has been in the last few months on vegetable oil producers and also down the chain,” he said, noting that commercial palm oil is a key input in vegetable oil refining.
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Ibru recalled that protective policies under the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo, including duties on crude palm oil and a ban on refined vegetable oil imports, helped revive an industry that had been “almost comatose” in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to him, palm oil production has grown from roughly 800,000 tonnes two decades ago to between 1.3 million and 1.4 million tonnes, driven by billions of dollars in private investment.
“It’s estimated that anything from 2 to 3 million people are involved in the various value chains of the oil industry,” Ibru said. “While you’re trying to push down the price of food commodities in the country, what’s the point if the people that are meant to benefit from it don’t have the jobs or the resources to even partake in it?”
50% price crash, smuggling allegations
Alphonsus Inyang, president of the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), said palm oil prices had fallen by about 50 percent in less than two months, even during the lean season.
“Currently, at the price we are selling palm oil in this country, we are selling at less than production price,” he said, adding that smallholder farmers depend on oil palm income for “school fees… medicine… and general economic well-being.”
Inyang blamed porous borders and smuggling, alleging multiple land and sea entry points funnelling cheap oil into the country and forcing local producers to sell at prices determined by foreign supply.
“Government is losing revenue. The farmers are being suppressed through the influx of oil that comes in at very low prices,” he said.
He contrasted Nigeria’s approach with Ghana, which he said had committed $100 million this year to oil palm development under a structured national programme.
Enforcement, policy inconsistency
Mohammed Tahir, chairman of the Vegetable Oil Sub-Sector of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), described the situation as a “knee-jerk decision” that effectively opened the market despite existing import restrictions.
“What happened to enforcement?” he asked repeatedly, questioning why import prohibition policies were not being implemented.
He warned that vegetable oil refineries were operating at low capacity utilisation due to high production costs and cheaper imports, arguing that the shift represented “a kind of preference of trade over production.”
“When you talk of food security, it is not about only bringing food into the country,” Tahir said. “If you are not able to be self-reliant, actually, there is a big problem there.”
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Christopher Ayodele Uwala, president of the Soybean Association of Nigeria, said soybean prices had crashed to about one-quarter of previous levels, discouraging farmers.
“If let’s say Nigeria is consuming 1.6 million and it’s 1.2 that we have, then only 400,000 should be imported,” he said, arguing that imports should be based on verified shortfalls.
He criticised what he described as a lack of reliable national statistics and warned that excessive imports could undermine domestic production capacity.
Call for strategic protection under AfCFTA
Okey Ikoro, chairman of the Vegetable and Edible Oil Producers Association of Nigeria (VEOPAN), said Nigeria’s vegetable oil market, valued at over $2 billion monthly, was increasingly controlled by foreign supply, with domestic players now holding about 34 percent.
He warned that inconsistent policies, smuggling and foreign subsidised products were destabilising the industry.
“Plantation is not something you do, and after one year, you start harvesting it. It has a long gestation period,” Ikoro said. “But if you cannot have the policy that will sustain this gestation period, how can you do more?”
Ikoro dismissed suggestions that import liberalisation was compelled by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), arguing that the agreement allows member states to protect strategic products.
“Vegetable oil is a strategic product and very, very sensitive,” he said. “There is no need for any government to justify AfCFTA and then kill your country’s production.”
Across the board, stakeholders urged the government to time imports outside peak harvest periods, strengthen price stabilisation mechanisms, subsidise inputs, enforce border controls and provide policy clarity to restore investor confidence.
“A food strategy that feeds the nation today must also empower those who will feed it tomorrow,” Afolabi said.
Industry leaders warned that without swift intervention, Nigeria risks deepening import dependence, eroding rural employment and weakening long-term food security.
