The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has called for increased investment in agricultural processing, logistics, financing and intra-African trade to unlock the continent’s vast agricultural potential.
Kyari made the call in his goodwill message at the Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) 2026, held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
The minister said Africa possesses nearly two-thirds of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land but spends more than $100 billion annually on food imports, describing the situation as a failure to translate the continent’s abundant resources into economic value.
According to him, Africa’s challenge is not a lack of agricultural capacity, but the inability to effectively process, finance, move and trade what it produces.
He said greater attention must therefore be given to building agricultural value chains that would enable farmers and other players in the sector to derive more value from production.
Highlighting Nigeria’s efforts to address some of these challenges, Kyari pointed to the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones Programme, which he said had mobilised $538 million in co-financing across seven states and the Federal Capital Territory in its first phase.
The minister also identified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a major opportunity to expand markets for African agricultural producers and processors by facilitating greater intra-African trade.
Kyari commended Sterling for its sustained commitment to agriculture and urged private-sector investors to take advantage of emerging opportunities in agricultural processing, storage, logistics and distribution.
He said Africa’s ambition to become a food superpower would depend on its ability to ensure that agricultural produce is processed, financed, traded and consumed within the continent, while farmers receive better returns for their efforts.
Kyari stressed that unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential would require stronger collaboration among governments, financial institutions, private investors, processors, logistics operators and farmers.
He maintained that increased investment across the agricultural value chain would not only strengthen food security but also create jobs, expand markets and retain more economic value within the continent.
