Approximately 250,000 smallholder farmers across eight Nigerian states have been insured under a risk-mitigation programme coordinated by the Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit (PFSCU) between April and October 2025.
Covering the 2025 wet-season farming cycle, the insurance scheme benefits farmers in Borno, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, and Taraba States. According to PFSCU documents, the policy was developed to protect farmers from climate shocks, natural disasters, and market instability that continue to threaten Nigeria’s food system and small-scale agribusinesses.
Established in 2024 under the National Economic Council (NEC), the PFSCU was created to harmonise food-system interventions across federal, state, and local governments. Led by Marion Moon, Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture, the unit oversees the implementation of the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) while coordinating state-level food security initiatives.
Vice President Kashim Shettima had earlier described NAPM as a “data-driven, state-led model” designed to align agricultural operations nationwide through real-time data and analytics.
PFSCU records show that farmer verification and extension workshops for the insurance scheme commenced in April 2025 across the pilot states. Additional coverage is expected to extend to Cross River, Edo, Ebonyi, Kebbi, and Oyo States, which have not yet received NAPM intervention.
The insurance policy provides a safety net against crop failure, offering support for farmers affected by flooding, drought, or price fluctuations, while ensuring continued access to quality agricultural inputs. The programme will run through the 2026 dry-season farming cycle before scaling up nationwide.
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The initiative comes amid growing concern over climate-related losses that threaten Nigeria’s food supply. Reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warn that extreme weather could deepen the nation’s food insecurity. Although food inflation declined slightly to 16.87% in September 2025, over 30 million Nigerians still experienced acute food shortages during the lean season.
According to PFSCU, the insurance scheme complements flagship initiatives such as the Harvesting Hope Caravan, the 30-Per-Cent Value-Addition Bill, and the €995 million Nigeria–Brazil Green Imperative Project. The unit also plans to integrate the scheme’s farmer database into NEC’s live food-balance dashboard by 2026 to enhance agricultural monitoring and accountability.
Despite the milestone, Marion Moon disclosed that only Ekiti, Cross River, and Jigawa States have fully committed to the programme. “We’ve observed that states represented on the steering committee are progressing faster because they understand our operations and the value of consistent engagement,” she said.
Moon emphasised that stronger collaboration between federal and state governments will be key to achieving Nigeria’s long-term food security and agricultural resilience objectives.
