Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria’s agricultural sector ticked to its highest in three years in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3), up from the same period of 2023, on the back of investors’ growing interest in the livestock sector.
A BusinessDay analysis of the Capital Importation report shows that foreign investment into Nigeria’s agric sector swelled by about 432 percent to $24.67 million (N34.29 million) in July through September of 2025, up from $4.64 million (N6.5 million) in the corresponding period of 2023.
Agric analysts pin the surge to investors’ growing confidence in the livestock value chain over the last three years.
“If foreign investment in the agric sector rose in Q3, it is because the livestock sector is attracting more investment,” said Abiodun Olorundero, managing partner at Prasinos Farm.
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In Q1 of 2025, JBS, a Brazilian meatpacking company, poured money into the establishment of a 100,000-hectare cattle ranch in Niger and into the modernisation of a meat processing facility in Ogun State as part of efforts to boost the livestock value chain.
“This surge in investment cannot be from crop production, especially with how much input price has surged in the subsector in the last year, so it is definitely a result of the livestock sector,” Olorundero explained.
Similarly, Chi Farms Nigeria Limited invested in the country’s livestock and set its sights on a $2.5bn livestock investment in its Ogun State farm.
In July 2024, President Tinubu inaugurated the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to modernise the sector, boost protein production, and resolve long-standing farmer-herder conflicts.
The ministry aims to unlock a N33 trillion sector, transition from nomadic farming to ranching, and improve food security.
Since its establishment, over 400 grazing reserves have been resuscitated, the National Animal Feeds and Fodder Policy has been validated, and eleven transboundary disease control posts have been established along international cattle corridors. This has boosted investors’ confidence in the sector, experts say.
Further analysis of the report shows that for the first time in three years, the fishing sector received $5 million in FDI, after years of zero investment.
Meanwhile, agric’s contribution to overall FDI pool dropped from 0.71 percent in Q3 2023 to 0.41 percent in Q3 2025. Also, quarter-on-quarter, foreign investment into the agric sector fell from $67.24 million in Q2 2025, but was higher than $24.15 million in Q1 of 2025.
