HortiNigeria model shows path to boosting Nigeria’s fresh produce output – Idris

Mohammed Salasi Idris is the programme director of HortiNigeria – a four-year horticulture development program funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria.

The initiative is a bilateral agreement between the Nigerian government and the Netherlands designed to build a sustainable, gender- and youth-inclusive horticulture sector that strengthens food and nutrition security in Nigeria.

The program is implemented by the International Fertilizer Development Center IFDC with partners Wageningen University & Research, East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation, and KIT.

In an interview with JOSEPHINE OKOJIE-OKEIYI, he spoke about the HoriNigeria interventions in Nigeria’s horticulture sector and its role in addressing the country’s post-harvest losses as the programme comes to an end in October 2025.

Can you tell us about the work HortiNigeria Programme has done in Nigeria’s horticulture sector?

The initiative commenced in 2021 with the goal of strengthening Nigeria’s horticulture sector in four states — Kano, Kaduna, Ogun, and Oyo, focusing on key priority crops: okra, onions, pepper, and tomatoes.

Our focus is on increasing productivity and income for 60,000 smallholder farmers, including 40 percent women and 50 percent youth in the north.

We help improve market linkages, support climate-smart technologies, facilitate access to finance and investments, pilot innovative production systems for 2000 entrepreneurial farmers, such as protected horticulture and regional diversification in the south, while building a more enabling policy environment for the sector.

So far, we’ve trained over 76,237 smallholders and entrepreneurial farmers on good agronomic practices, increased yields in key crops by an average of 93 percent, and increased farmers’ incomes by over 205 percent.

We have also mobilized over €4.14 million in finance and investments, contributed to reducing post-harvest losses in key intervention areas to an average of 83 percent, and facilitated over 106 business-to-business linkages.

We’ve also co-developed the National Strategy for Sustainable Management of Tuta Absoluta, Nigeria’s tomato leafminer pest, with FMAFS, NIHORT, and NATPAN to safeguard national tomato production.

How has the programme impacted the country’s agricultural sector?

We’ve demonstrated that Nigeria’s horticulture sector can be both commercially viable and socially inclusive. Yields for tomatoes, peppers, onions, and okra have increased by 30–50 percent in our target areas.

We’ve established over 100 business linkages between farmer groups and buyers and helped agro-input dealers reach thousands of new customers with quality products through structured agribusiness clusters and hubs.

Our work is also feeding into policy dialogue — state ministries of agriculture and private associations are now referencing data from HortiNigeria to plan investments and align regulations, such as our weekly price index, which is strengthening the sector beyond the program’s direct beneficiaries.

We’ve helped close Nigeria’s estimated 13 million metric ton vegetable supply deficit by increasing productivity and reducing losses.

Post-harvest losses, previously as high as 50–60 percent, have been reduced in some program clusters to 17 percent, thanks to cold rooms, crates, market linkages and training.

By engaging NIRSAL and commercial banks, we’ve started to bridge the N440–N660 billion (€1.06–1.6 billion) horticulture finance gap, training banks to develop horticulture-specific loan products. This has catalyzed private sector participation in areas previously viewed as too risky.

We’ve also improved key policies such as the Tomato Policy, Seed Policy, Organic Agriculture Policy, and pushed for Credit Risk Guarantee increases (30→50 percent) for local plastic crate production to reduce post-harvest losses nationwide.

To what extent would you say the HortiNigeria Programme has contributed towards solving Nigeria’s food security problems?

HortiNigeria is not a silver bullet, but it has provided a model for boosting fresh vegetable production, reducing losses, and improving nutrition.

By expanding access to high-yielding seed varieties, introducing efficient irrigation, and connecting farmers to stable markets, we’re reducing dependence on imports and improving availability of nutrient-dense foods. Nigeria faces food inflation and supply shocks — in 2024, tomato prices rose 320 percent year-on-year.

By boosting production, improving the cold chain, and stabilizing supply, we’re directly improving the affordability and availability of vegetables.

Equally important, we’ve built skills and infrastructure that will outlast the project — such as agribusiness clusters and community field trainers. We have also built innovation hubs and business champions who will continue supplying farmers and developing the sector after the program ends.

Read also: Women Farmers in Northern States urged to embrace Agriculture as a Business

Can you share any notable success stories from the program so far?

In Ogun and Oyo States, youth hubs piloted open cultivation systems and doubled yields within a season, creating new seedling and irrigation service businesses.

Also, notably recorded huge success in the regional diversification of onion production in the south. Currently, our young entrepreneurial farmers are growing onions in a large scale in the south, which has reduced over dependence on the north for supply.

Also, protected cultivation, greenhouse farming, has been included in the training curriculum at FUNAAB, which will increase youth participation in protected cultivation production systems.

In Kano and Kaduna, women processors trained by HortiNigeria adopted low-cost drying and packaging technologies, cutting post-harvest losses by 40 percent and doubling incomes in less than a year.

Our female business champions, such as SIMKAY foods, Beta Tomato, Mix Condiment, and Tomato Jos, are off-taking vegetables from our smallholder farmers and creating value, which is contributing to income and post-harvest management.

Nationwide, we have advocated for the use and adoption of plastic crates to replace raffia baskets, which have contributed to post-harvest losses experienced by farmers and contributed immensely to environmental health challenges in major markets, such as Mile12 in Lagos.

Our efforts have resulted in advocating for a CRG increment for plastic production from 30-50 percent, which is currently approved by the National Council of Agriculture and Food Security and fully implemented by our partner NIRSAL.

This will attract investment and increase the production and circulation of plastic crates in the sector and further reduce post-harvest losses.

We’ve also successfully piloted solar pump irrigation systems for entrepreneurial and smallholder farmers, particularly women.

This innovative initiative has significantly enhanced farm operations by providing a reliable and sustainable water source, thereby improving crop productivity.

Additionally, the adoption of solar-powered irrigation systems has played a pivotal role in mitigating the effects of climate change, offering farmers a resilient solution to irregular rainfall patterns and water scarcity.

What are the greatest threats to Nigeria’s horticulture sector, and how can it be fixed?

These are key standouts: climate variability and water scarcity, insecurity and logistics disruptions, weak policy and regulatory frameworks, land access and labour constraints, especially for women in the North and farmers in the South and pest and disease pressures like Tuta absoluta causing up to 80–100 percent yield losses.

Others are: high post-harvest losses due to weak cold chain infrastructure, limited access to finance, with a N440–N660 billion funding gap for the horticulture sector, and a weak digital farmer database for the horticulture sector.

We need sustained investment in irrigation, cold storage, and rural infrastructure; a stronger role for private-sector logistics; and predictable government policies that encourage investment.

Public-private partnerships, embedding eco-efficient pest management, introducing financial guarantees, and piloting protected farming systems to buffer against climate shocks like those piloted under HortiNigeria, show the way forward.

What were the strategies implemented by the programme to support farmers in reducing their post-harvest losses, and how did it measure their effectiveness?

We’ve installed solar-powered cold rooms and aggregation hubs with partners like Ecotutu, Soilless Farm Lab, and NIHORT, shifted farmers from raffia baskets to plastic crates with standardized designs, introduced on-farm training on harvesting, grading, and transport practices and developed market linkage contracts to shorten time-to-market and empower female business champions to process those vegetables to powder and puree.

Effectiveness is measured via baseline and follow-up loss assessments. In some program locations, post-harvest losses fell from >50 to ~17 percent in some locations, and income rose by over 200 percent. We also injected 33,000+ crates into the Mile 12 market to professionalize handling.

What are the opportunities in the Nigerian horticulture sector?

The opportunities are significant: expanding production of high-value vegetables for domestic and export markets, investment in cold chain logistics and processing (purees, dried vegetables, frozen produce), greenhouse farming and drip irrigation services, digital platforms for input supply and market access and youth- and women-led agri-enterprises in aggregation, storage, and transport.

Nigeria’s growing urban population, changing diets, and regional trade agreements make horticulture one of the most dynamic parts of agriculture.

What have been some of the biggest challenges faced by the HortiNigeria program, and how were they addressed?

Challenges included insecurity, inflation, climate variability, removal of fuel subsidies, and rising CBN interest rates from 18.75 to 27.50 percent, which hit MSME access to credit.

Women faced land- access barriers in the North; in the South, urban expansion squeezed arable land and labour availability.

We adapted by relocating training hubs to safer areas, piloting digital extension, introducing home gardening and seedling production specifically for women, and engaging financial institutions to co-develop credit products. We also mobilized grants to pilot innovative models before scaling them commercially.

Now that the HortiNigeria Programme is coming to an end, is there any framework in place to ensure its sustainability beyond the initial funding?

Yes. From the beginning, we embedded sustainability in our approach. We’ve developed Agribusiness clusters in the north and Hubs in the south — local actors who will continue delivering services. We’ve strengthened input dealer networks, linked them to finance, and

established vegetable learning sites at the Center for Dryland Agriculture, BUK Kano, ABU Zaria and Saadatu Rimi College of Education, Kano, in collaboration with the institution managements.

We’ve also nurtured partnerships with Dutch companies like East-West Seed, Rijk Zwaan, Syngenta and Afri Agri, and with Nigerian financiers to co-invest in cold chain, protected agriculture, and pest management systems.

This is all about moving from aid to trade and investment, ensuring continuity beyond donor funding.

What lessons have been learned from implementing the programme, and how have these informed future plans?

We’ve learned that inclusion must be intentional; women and youth only benefit when programs are designed specifically for them.

We’ve also seen the power of integrating formal, informal, and semi- formal networks — for example, linking farmer cooperatives with private off-takers and including government agencies.

Five core lessons stand out: Inclusion must be intentional — reaching 40 percent women and 50 percent youth requires targeted design.

Infrastructure investments amplify impact — cold chain, irrigation and mechanization must be integral. Integrated pest management can be institutionalized nationally — using the Tuta absoluta model. Finance requires de-risking — guarantee schemes and blended finance unlock private capital. Aid-to-trade transition is viable — early engagement of Dutch and Nigerian businesses yields sustained investment.

Looking forward, we’re advocating for a National Horticulture Policy, exploring expansion of our Agribusiness Clusters, and scaling eco-efficient pest management and protected agriculture nationwide.

With the right investment environment, Nigeria could double horticulture exports to $500 million by 2030, drastically reduce post-harvest losses, and create thousands of jobs.