By Atiku Sarki, Abuja
The Federal Government has unveiled the Nigeria Post-Harvest Systems Transformation Programme (NiPHaST) to tackle post-harvest losses, stabilize food prices, and move the country closer to achieving food sovereignty.
The initiative, launched under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, seeks to improve food and nutrition security, create jobs, and enhance farmers’ incomes.
In a statement issued to The Triumph on Sunday in Abuja by the Head of Information at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Ezeaja Ikemefuna, the Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said the programme was designed to reduce post-harvest inefficiencies that currently cost the nation an estimated ₦3.5 trillion annually.
“This is not just produce going to waste. It is opportunity lost and livelihoods destroyed,” Kyari said while speaking at the Nigeria Legacy Program, organized by the Africa Food Systems Forum in partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in Dakar, Senegal.
The minister explained that NiPHaST would focus on household storage technologies, community-level warehouses, cold rooms, and strategic national silos managed through public–private partnerships.
According to him, the programme will also boost investment in storage value chains such as processing, preservation, packaging, marketing, and climate-smart technologies like metal silos and cold storage facilities.
Kyari said the government hopes the programme will unlock private sector investments, strengthen market confidence, and expand critical storage infrastructure. He added that the initiative will not only improve exports and nutrition but also create job opportunities, raise household incomes, and drive food import substitution.
“Transforming post-harvest systems will secure farmer livelihoods, revive agribusiness confidence, and position Nigeria as a leading food supplier in West Africa,” he said, calling for stronger international collaboration to sustain the initiative.
The event was attended by Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar Namadi; Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma; Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund, Mohammed Abu Ibrahim; and President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, among others.