Food Security: CPPE Tasks FG on Framework for Farm Price Stabilisation, Affordable Food Prices 

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called for a clear, rules-based and market-friendly farm price stabilisation and farmer income protection framework that would keep food affordable for consumers while protecting farmers’ incomes and safeguarding investment in agriculture.

The CPPE made this call yesterday in a policy brief on sustainable food security titled “Imperative of Farm Price Stabilisation and Farmer Income Protection Framework for Nigeria,” which canvassed for minimum guaranteed prices for selected priority crops

The Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, who issued the brief, said that maintaining sustainable food security, rural livelihoods and national economic stability have become a major policy imperative for the federal government.

Yusuf noted the government’s recent import focused food security strategy has brought about a sharp decline in food prices but left investors and producers in the agricultural sector lamenting over heavy losses arising from the collapse in prices of key commodities.

Following this development, he said that “the CPPE is of the firm view that Nigeria urgently requires a clear, rules-based and market-friendly ‘Farm Price Stabilisation and Farmer Income Protection Framework.’

“Such a framework should prevent import-induced price crashes, reduce harvest-time price collapse, discourage distress sales, protect farmer livelihoods, strengthen value chains, and provide stable supply conditions for processors and consumers.”

Yusuf stated that “the welfare gains from cheaper food have been profound and should be acknowledged.

“However, the cost to farmers and other investors across the agricultural value chain is equally significant and cannot be ignored.”

He described the current development presented as a major policy dilemma that demands urgent attention because “Nigeria cannot afford a policy regime that undermines confidence and discourages investment in agriculture—one of the most strategic sectors of the economy, a major source of livelihoods, and one of the country’s largest employers of labour.

“There is, therefore, an urgent need for policy recalibration and rebalancing to ensure that farmers remain productively engaged, rural incomes are protected, and investor confidence across the agricultural value chain is sustained—without compromising the equally important objective of keeping food affordable for Nigerian households.”

The CPPE said that recent surge in the import of food crops, especially staples such as rice, maize and soybeans, has caused serious dislocations in the agricultural investment ecosystem.

“This has inflicted severe hardship on farmers, weakened incentives to produce, and undermined Nigeria’s broader food security objectives.

“Although consumers have welcomed the decline in food prices, the long-term consequences are adverse: farmer incomes fall, production declines over time, investment confidence weakens, and the country risks returning to cycles of scarcity and higher prices.

“Therefore, there is a need for a coherent programme grounded in global best practices and adapted to Nigeria’s fiscal and governance realities.”

According to Yusuf, the establishment of the framework is a national priority that should be anchored on principles that reduce uncertainty, promote investment and encourage private sector participation.

“Specifically, it must be rules-based rather than discretionary; targeted rather than universal; market-friendly rather than command-driven and digitally enabled to strengthen transparency and accountability,” he said.

Yusuf said that Nigeria’s efforts should focus on correcting market failures, particularly in storage, logistics, finance, processing, and market information, rather than crowding out private enterprise through excessive government control.

He said: “A key pillar of the stabilisation programme is the introduction of Minimum Guaranteed Prices (MGP) or price floors for selected strategic commodities.

“This is a global best practice for protecting farmers against severe price collapses.

“CPPE recommends that Nigeria begins with four priority staples such as maize, rice (paddy), sorghum and soybeans.”

He said that the MGP system should not become an open-ended government purchase programme.

“Rather, it should operate strictly as a stabilising backstop. When market prices fall below the support price, government can intervene through licensed agencies and aggregators to purchase at the support price,” Yusuf said.

He cautioned that that introducing MGP without adequate storage capacity and institutional discipline could become fiscally and structurally unsustainable.

“Therefore, MGP must be combined with reforms in reserves, warehousing, commodity trading systems and transparent governance.

“Where reserves are managed without clear rules, the system becomes prone to wastage, rent-seeking, corruption and inefficiency,” he said.

Yusuf pointed out that farm price stabilisation would be impossible without addressing Nigeria’s deficits in storage and logistics.

He advised government to prioritise Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in agro-logistics and provide targeted incentives such as tax reliefs, concessionary finance and viability gap support where necessary.

CPPE further emphasised the importance of predictable trade safeguards to prevent import-driven price crashes.

While Nigeria must comply with regional trade obligations, it is necessary to adopt rules-based safeguards during import surges, enforce quality standards at borders, and strengthen anti-smuggling coordination.

Yusuf said: “CPPE believes Nigeria’s agricultural transformation cannot be achieved without stabilising farmer incomes.

“Price collapses destroy incentives to farm, reduce production over time, and worsen rural poverty.

“CPPE calls on the federal and state governments, commodity exchanges, development finance institutions, and private investors to work collaboratively in establishing a Farm Price Stabilisation and Farmer Income Protection Framework that is rules-based, transparent, fiscally sustainable, and supportive of private enterprise.

“A stable agricultural market will not only protect farmers; it will strengthen food security, reduce inflationary pressures, expand rural employment, and improve Nigeria’s national economic resilience.”