The agric sector expanded by 2.82 percent in the second quarter of 2025 (Q2), the first significant growth since the rebasing of the statistical report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Experts have attributed the 2.82 percent growth in the food sector to the current harvest season, which has increased food supply.
The sector’s growth in Q2 2025 was three percentage points higher than the 0.07 per cent recorded in Q1 and 0.2 percentage points above the 2.6 per cent posted a year earlier.
Abiodun Olorundero, an agribusiness expert and managing partner at Prasinos Farms, told BusinessDay that food prices have begun easing, with farmers in food-producing states harvesting.
“Food inflation is dropping, and Nigerians are buying food at lower prices,” he said. “We are at the tail end of the harvest season, which has increased food circulation,” he said.
He said that food inflation is also dropping as “there is more food in circulation.”
Livestock rebounded to 1.64 percent in Q2 of 2025 from a negative growth of 16.9 percent. But while livestock posted a rebound in percentage under review, growth in the forestry sub-sector regressed to 1.66 percent from 1.82 percent recorded in Q1.
A Kebbi State-based farmer told BusinessDay that insecurity, which has been a major challenge in the agric sector, has now subsided, allowing farmers to harvest crops in peace.
Farmers are more confident to go to farms and harvest,” he said. “This was not the case in the last quarters.”
Ibrahim Kabiru, president of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), corroborated that claim, noting that “insecurity is decreasing and new entrants like youths are becoming more involved in agriculture.”
An analysis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data reveals that food inflation dropped by 18 percent in the first half of the year, easing to 2121.8 per centn in August, down from 26.08 per cent in January. Quarterly output settled at an average of 21.8 per cent, worsening insecurity before the percentage of the GDP.
For the industry sector, a major contributor to overall GDP in Q2 2025, its growth stood at 7.45 percent, up from 3.72 percent last year.
The sector cooperated more to achieve a growth of 17.31 percent in the period at 17.31 percent, growing marginally from 16.79 per cent.
In terms of the share of the GDP, the industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the period at 17.31 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at percent
