Nigeria's food security challenges are being exacerbated by a substantial increase in food imports, which reached a staggering N7.65 trillion in 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This growing dependence on foreign supplies highlights deep-seated structural issues within the nation's agricultural sector.

A significant portion of locally produced food is lost before it reaches consumers due to inadequate infrastructure for storage, preservation, and transportation. These post-harvest losses erode farmer profits and discourage scaling up production, creating a gap that imports increasingly fill.

Opeoluwa Runsewe, CEO of Terroso Group, warned that this trend signifies Nigeria is "exporting jobs and importing inflation." He emphasized that the problem extends beyond mere production volume to encompass productivity, quality consistency, processing capacity, and the integrity of the supply chain.

The surge in food imports, which include both raw and processed items, is directly contributing to inflationary pressures within the Nigerian economy. Runsewe pointed out that structural inefficiencies, compounded by global disruptions like the ongoing Middle East conflict, are further straining the country's logistics chain and worsening the food security situation.