Kaduna Maize Farmers Seek FG Bailout After N10.16bn Loss from 2025 Price Crash
By Our Correspondent
No fewer than 2,143 grain farmers in Kaduna State have appealed to the Federal Government for urgent intervention through free or subsidised farm inputs, following losses estimated at N10.16 billion during the 2025 farming season.
The farmers, drawn from the three senatorial districts of Kaduna State, said they were pushed to the brink by a sudden nationwide crash in maize prices, which occurred amid unprecedented increases in the cost of agricultural inputs.
Their plea was conveyed 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 (CBN), and the three Senators representing Kaduna State at the National Assembly.
Written through their counsel, Barrister Ehizogie Fidelis Imadojemu, the letter explained that the farmers—participants in a maize farming scheme coordinated by Alhaji Rufai Muazu Dikko, popularly known as Sarkin Labar—were unable to recover production costs after harvest.
According to the farmers, the scheme began in 2017 with 1,000 hectares and has expanded to about 10,000 hectares, involving 2,143 farmers across Igabi, Soba, Kauru, Zaria and Sabon Gari local government areas.
Under the arrangement, Sarkin Labar provides capital, farm inputs and logistics, while participating farmers repay him in maize after harvest and sell the remainder for income.
However, the 2025 farming season proved disastrous. The farmers said the price of a 50kg bag of NPK fertiliser rose to about N60,000, while urea sold for as much as N50,000 per bag, pushing the cost of cultivating one hectare of maize to over N2 million, compared to about N1 million in the previous year.
With an average yield of 45 bags of 100kg per hectare, the farmers said each bag needed to sell for approximately N44,578 to break even. Instead, the market price fell sharply to about N22,000 per 100kg bag, translating to a loss of N22,577 per bag.
From an estimated 450,000 bags harvested across the 10,000 hectares, the farmers calculated an aggregate loss exceeding N10.16 billion.
“With these losses, the farmers cannot afford the cost of farming next season,” the letter stated, warning that the situation reflects a wider crisis facing maize farmers nationwide.
The farmers cautioned that unless urgent support is provided, many producers—particularly in northern Nigeria—may abandon farming in the 2026 season, a development they said could undermine the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s food security agenda.
They are therefore requesting a CBN-led bailout in the form of free or heavily subsidised fertiliser 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, after harvest.
According to them, such an intervention would stabilise grain production, improve food availability, and deliver economic and political 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 stated.
The farmers also requested an urgent meeting with government officials, noting that preparations for the next planting season would soon commence.
