Nigeria has 70.8 million hectares of agriculture land area with maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam beans, millet and rice being the major crops. Nigeria’s rice production rose from 3.7 million metric tons in 2017 to 4.0 million metric tons in 2018. Inspite of this, only 57percent of the 6.7 million metric tons of rice consumed in Nigeria annually is locally produced leading to a deficit of about 3 million metric tons, which is either imported or smuggled into the country illegally. To stimulate local production, the Government banned importation of rice in 2019.

As for cassava, Nigeria produced 59 million[3] tons in 2017, making it the world’s largest producer (approximately 20 percent of global production). The economic potentials are enormous, with high revenue yields from both domestic value addition and derived income as well as revenues for the government.

 With improved varieties and production techniques, production is anticipated to increase. Animal production has remained underexploited. Livestock mostly reared by farm families in Nigeria are the small ruminants like goats (76 million), sheep (43.4million), and cattle (18.4 million). The ecology in the northern part of the country makes it famous for livestock keeping. In addition to small and large ruminants, poultry population stands at 180 million poultry (FMARD, 2017). Here too domestic demand outweighs production despite several interventions by development partners to improve production and safeguard against diseases including transboundary animal diseases.