Nigeria’s food security debate has long centered on production metrics like tonnes harvested, hectares cultivated, and annual output growth.
While these figures are important, they fail to reflect the deeper structural challenges undermining the country’s agricultural economy.
A significant portion of locally produced food never reaches consumers in good condition due to weak infrastructure for storage, preservation, and transportation.
Post-harvest losses remain one of the most neglected risks in Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, eroding profits and discouraging farmers from scaling production.
This gap has fueled the growth of food importation.
According to the latest Foreign Trade Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS, Nigeria’s food and beverage import bill surged to N7.65 trillion in 2025, underscoring the nation’s growing dependence on foreign supplies to meet rising domestic demand.
The imports include both raw food products and processed items, serving industrial needs as well as household consumption.
In this interview with Opeoluwa Runsewe, CEO of Terroso Group, a diversified company spanning agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and resources, warned that Nigeria is “exporting jobs and importing inflation”.
He highlighted how structural inefficiencies, coupled with global disruptions such as the ongoing Middle East conflict, are straining Nigeria’s logistics chain and worsening the food security challenge.
