If Nigeria is to solve the challenge of food availability and rising cost, the Federal and state governments must give priority to the modernisation of smallholder farming. Not only that, the government should also, as a matter of urgency, support processors through robust policies aimed at achieving food security and boosting agribusiness in Nigeria. This was the position of Professor Michael Ngadi, a renowned expert in food engineering. He was speaking during a public lecture at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU). His lecture, titled “Modernising Smallholder Agrifood Systems,” emphasized the critical role smallholder farmers play in global and national food systems, especially in developing countries like Nigeria.
Professor Ngadi, who serves as Director of the Integrated Food and Bioprocessing Programme at McGill University, Canada, highlighted that smallholder agriculture remains the dominant form of farming in Nigeria, involving over 70 percent of the population. “There is something good about the smallholder farming system as practised by over 70 percent of Nigeria’s population, which traditionally provide food for the people over the years,” he said. Despite their significance, Ngadi acknowledged that smallholder farmers and processors face numerous challenges, including limited resources, restricted market access, and outdated farming methods that constrain their potential.
“There is urgent need to transform the agrifood systems to function at scale in the light of other cross linking and exacerbating pressures of population growth, poverty, climate change, energy and sustainability,” he stressed. The expert advocated for the adoption of appropriate scale technologies, which he believes will equip smallholder operators with “tools that will enable them to optimize their resources and compete effectively.” With over 30 years of experience in food engineering and the development of advanced technologies for agri-food processing, Ngadi argued that smallholder farming cannot simply be phased out. Instead, the system should be restructured to “benefit from modernisation of the value chain.”
He explained that Nigeria’s agricultural landscape is characterized by “large population with small farm sizes and low outputs as against small population with large farm sizes and high outputs as obtainable in developed countries.” In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of MOUAU, Professor Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, echoed these sentiments, noting the indispensable role of innovation. “We must find a way to improve what we do in the whole gamut of farming,” he stated, underscoring the urgent need to embrace modern technologies to achieve food security.