You can’t buy a bag of fertiliser with the same amount you sell a bag of maize.
Smallholder farmers across Nigeria are abandoning fertiliser-intensive staples such as rice and maize due to soaring input costs, raising fears of a looming food security crisis. A bag of urea now sells between ₦47,000–₦50,000, up from ₦35,000–₦37,000, while NPK fertilisers range from ₦48,000–₦55,000. Farmers say crops that require multiple fertiliser applications are no longer viable. Malam Hamza Adamu from Kaduna noted, “You can’t buy a bag of fertiliser with the same amount you sell a bag of maize.”
He switched to rice, which needs less fertiliser, while many others are growing millet, sorghum, beans, groundnuts, soybeans, sesame, and cassava. Bello Idris Dalleje echoed: “Fertiliser is too expensive now. You can’t even break even.” In Gombe State, farmers are also turning to low-input crops. Government interventions vary: Kaduna is distributing two free fertiliser bags to smallholders and subsidising commercial farmers, while Gombe has procured 10,000 tonnes at ₦27,000 per bag. Without swift, transparent action, experts warn Nigeria risks a deeper food deficit and rising prices.