Contemporary Issues, Challenges and Solutions in Nigerian Agriculture: A Review of the Period 2020–2025
Abstract
Nigeria’s agricultural sector is central to food security, employment generation, economic diversification, and rural development, yet its transformative potential remains constrained by persistent structural, environmental, institutional, and socioeconomic challenges. This narrative review critically examines contemporary issues affecting Nigerian agriculture between 2020 and 2025, evaluates strategies for sectoral revitalisation, and draws lessons from relevant international experiences. Secondary data were obtained from peer-reviewed literature, policy documents, and national and international databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics, FAOSTAT, the World Bank, and FEWS NET. Evidence was synthesised thematically around key agricultural problems, transformation models, international experiences, and policy recommendations. The review identifies declining land and labour productivity, weak input and extension systems, inadequate irrigation, poor rural infrastructure, high post-harvest losses, limited agro-processing capacity, climate variability, environmental degradation, insecurity, policy inconsistency, underinvestment, land constraints, and unequal access to digital technologies and agricultural finance as major barriers to agricultural transformation. Although initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, NIRSAL, digital agriculture, climate-smart practices, and value-chain development have generated important opportunities, their impacts have been limited by weak implementation, institutional fragmentation, inadequate funding, and exclusion of smallholders, women, and youth. International experiences from Asia, Latin America, India, and the Sahel demonstrate the importance of sustained public investment, effective farmer organisations, community-led adaptation, integrated value-chain development, and stable policy institutions.