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The Kwara Budget Committee Group has asked the state government to set aside money in the 2025 budget for silos and other ways to store farm produce. This is to help reduce the huge losses farmers face after harvest, estimated at N94.5 billion each year.
The group, made up of several agricultural NGOs, spoke during a press briefing in Ilorin. They shared their review of the proposed 2025 agriculture budget.
Mrs. Modupe Suleiman, spokesperson for the group and Deputy Coordinator of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), said, “Kwara alone loses N94.5 billion worth of farm produce each year. This adds to the national figure of N3.5 trillion in food losses.”
She pointed out that despite these losses, the 2025 budget has no provision for preventing post-harvest waste.
“We are worried about what will happen when farmers harvest more in 2025 and have nowhere to store the produce,” she said.
Suleiman added that the concern is even greater now that President Bola Tinubu has declared a national food emergency.
Currently, only a small number of women farmers in Kwara have the tools they need. Just 26% have access to processing machines, 10% to transport, 21% to markets, and only 39% have received training on how to reduce losses after harvest.
She also noted that the portion of the budget going to agriculture has dropped. In 2024, it was 1.49%, but in 2025, it’s only 0.97%—far below the 10% target agreed under the Maputo and Malabo Declarations.
Suleiman stressed that the government must also improve how it uses the budget. By the end of 2024, only 37.3% of the funds set aside for agriculture had been released.
She called for better and faster release of funds in 2025, especially for projects that support smallholder farmers.
