Kaduna State grain farmers in Nigeria, numbering 2,143 have reported losses estimated at N10.16 billion during the 2025 farming season and have appealed to the Federal Government for urgent intervention in the form of free or subsidised farm inputs.
The farmers, spread across the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State, were said to have been pushed to the brink by a sudden crash in maize prices nationwide, despite unprecedented increases in the cost of agricultural inputs.
The farmers made their petition in a letter addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Agriculture, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the three senators representing Kaduna State at the Senate.
The letter, written through their counsel, Barr. Ehizogie Imadojemu, detailed how the farmers, operating under a maize farming scheme coordinated by Alhaji Rufai Dikko, popularly known as Sarkin Labar, were unable to recover production costs after harvest.
They explained that the scheme, which began in 2017 with 1,000 hectares, has expanded to about 10,000 hectares cultivated by 2,143 farmers across Igabi, Soba, Kauru, Zaria, and Sabon Gari local government areas.
Under the arrangement, Sarkin Labar provides capital, inputs, and logistics, while farmers repay him in maize after harvest and sell the remainder for income.
The farmers said the 2025 season proved disastrous, noting that a 50 kilograms bag of NPK fertiliser sold for about N60,000, while urea rose to N50,000 per bag. As a result, they reported that the total cost of cultivating one hectare of maize climbed to over N2 million, up from about N1 million the previous year.
With an average yield of 45 bags of 100kg per hectare, they said each bag needed to sell for about N44,578 to break even.
According to them, the prevailing market price crashed to about N22,000 per 100kg bag, less than half the required recovery price, resulting in a loss of N22,577 per bag.
According to the letter, “From the total output of about 450,000 bags harvested across the 10,000 hectares, the farmers calculated an aggregate loss of over N10.16 billion”.
The letter further stated, “with these losses, the farmers cannot afford the cost of farming next season”, warning that the situation reflects the wider crisis facing maize farmers across Nigeria.
The farmers avowed that unless urgent support is provided, many producers, particularly in northern Nigeria, may abandon farming in the 2026 season, a development they say could undermine the Tinubu administration’s food security agenda.
They also requested a bailout through the Central Bank of Nigeria in the form of free or heavily-subsidised inputs such as fertilizer and urea for the 2026 farming season.
In return, they proposed to reimburse the Federal Government with maize equivalent to part of the value of the inputs at the end of the season.
The farmers argued that such an intervention would stabilise grain production, boost food availability, and deliver political and economic dividends ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Only by this arrangement will our clients and many other grain farmers around the country return to their farms in the 2026 farming season”, the letter added.
They also requested an urgent meeting with government officials to discuss salient matters, noting that preparations for the next planting season would begin soon.
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