Nigeria’s food imports rise to $2.5b as insecurity prevents farming
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria’s food imports rose 16 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from $2.13 billion in 2023 to $2.5 billion in 2024 on the backdrop of unrelenting insecurity dislocating farmers from their communities and preventing cultivation of crops.
The 2025 World Bank Food Security Update already disclosed that one million additional Nigerians experienced acute food insecurity in 2024 due to intensified conflict and climate related shocks such as drought.
And the Quarterly Economic Report of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Q4 2024 shows that food imports rose in three of the four quarters of last year.
In Q1 2024, food imports rose 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to $689.88 million from $493.24 million in Q4 2023, and 1.8 per cent YoY from $677.61 million in Q1 2023.
Food imports dropped in Q2 2024 to $547.7 million – 21 per cent decline QoQ from $689.88 million in Q1 2024 and 20 per cent YoY from $685.37 million in Q2 2023.
The upward trend resurfaced in Q3 2024 when food imports rose to $633 million – 15.7 per cent from $547.7 million in Q2 2024 and 132 per cent from $273.11 million in Q3 2023.
In Q4 2024, food imports notched 3.9 per cent to $658.54 million from $633 million in Q3 2024 and 33.5 per cent to $658.54 million from N493.24 million in Q4 2023.
However, the CBN explained that the share of food import in total imports dipped 13.15 per cent in Q4 2024 from 18.13 per cent in Q3 2024.
It said: “Analysis of import by sector indicated that the industrial sector, mainly raw materials and machinery, accounted for the largest share of imports, with 50.41 per cent.
“This was followed by oil sector (20.24%), food products (13.15%), manufactured products (9.22%), minerals (3.54%), transport (2.94%) and agricultural products (0.50%).”
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