Nigeria: Nigeria Agriculture Profile

The start of the 2013 rainy season has been somewhat erratic in the North

Planting of the main maize crop was completed in May in the South under satisfactory weather conditions. In the North, which has only one rainy season, planting of coarse grains is underway. Precipitation has been irregular in parts of central and northern Nigeria, which may affect planting activities.

In 2012, heavy rains damaged crops and livestock in several parts of the country

Harvesting of the 2012 cereal crops was completed last January. Several Nigerian states have been affected by torrential rains from August through October 2012 which led to substantial flooding and resulted in considerable human casualties and damage to crops and livestock. An inter-agency assessment carried out in November 2012 in 14 most affected states estimated that about 5.7 million animals have been killed and nearly 2 million hectares of crop land (rice, sorghum, maize, cassava and yam) were lost. Rice and maize crops have been most affected.

Food prices on the increase due to civil strife and lingering effects of last year’s floods

The impact of reduced supplies from last year’s flood-affected crop is being compounded by the ongoing civil insecurity in the northern part of the country that resulted in serious disruptions in commodity movement and cross-border trade flows. As a result, coarse grains prices increased significantly over the past few months. For example in Kano, the most important city in the north of the country, maize prices have been following an upward trend since October-November 2012, and in April 2013 they were about 13 percent above last year’s level. Market disruption in northern Nigeria also led to substantial prices rises in most neighboring countries, notably in Niger and Benin.