By Jide Akinseye
As Nigeria continues to grapple with rising food insecurity, unemployment, and the challenges of modern agricultural production, key stakeholders across government, academia, and the private sector have intensified calls for strategic collaboration and innovation-driven reforms capable of transforming the nation’s agricultural sector into a hub of economic growth and food sufficiency.
The urgent need to reposition Nigeria’s agricultural sector through innovation, technology, and institutional collaboration took centre stage at the maiden National Legislative Summit and Expo on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State.
The summit, themed “Unfolding the Potential of Agricultural Colleges and Institutions Through Collaboration and Innovation to Enhance Food Security and Job Creation,” drew an array of lawmakers, policymakers, researchers, development partners, financial institutions, agribusiness investors, students, and agricultural stakeholders from across the country and beyond.
At the heart of the discussions was a growing concern over Nigeria’s worsening food insecurity and the pressing need to create sustainable employment opportunities for millions of young Nigerians through agriculture.
Leading the call for action was the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who stressed that no single institution or sector could independently solve the nation’s agricultural challenges.
Represented by the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Yisa Ashiru, Akpabio declared that the future of agriculture would be driven not by crude traditional methods alone, but by research, innovation, mechanisation, biotechnology, irrigation science, climate adaptation, and data-driven productivity systems.
According to him, agriculture must evolve into a modern economic enterprise capable of attracting young people and investors alike.
He argued that government institutions, educational bodies, researchers, private investors, financial organisations, development partners, and farmers must work together within an integrated ecosystem to unlock the nation’s agricultural potential.
Akpabio warned that institutional silos and fragmented policies had continued to slow progress in the sector, emphasizing the need to bridge the gap between research and practical implementation.
He noted that modern farming is rapidly changing globally and that Nigeria must embrace technological advancement to remain competitive.
“The future farmer may operate drones, use artificial intelligence for crop analysis, deploy digital irrigation systems, and manage greenhouse technology,” he stated, while urging Nigerians to stop viewing agriculture as a vocation for the less privileged.
Rather, he described agriculture as a frontier of wealth creation, innovation, and national prosperity.
The Senate President further linked food security directly to national stability, warning that hunger fuels poverty, social unrest, and insecurity.
“A hungry nation cannot be peaceful. A hungry people cannot be stable,” he said, stressing that Nigeria must move beyond subsistence farming to agro-processing, export-driven production, and agricultural industrialisation.
For many participants at the summit, the conversation represented a shift from rhetoric to practical strategies capable of repositioning agriculture as the backbone of Nigeria’s economy.
Also speaking at the summit, the Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Regional Director for Africa, Simeon Ehui, highlighted the institute’s commitment to developing technologies aimed at tackling hunger, poverty, malnutrition, and environmental degradation across Africa.
Ehui explained that IITA had continued to partner with governments and stakeholders to improve food production, nutrition, employment, and natural resource management.
He disclosed that one of the institute’s recent initiatives involved collaboration with the Nigerian government to establish 774 soil-testing laboratories across the country — a move expected to improve soil management and boost agricultural productivity nationwide.
The organisation, he added, has also intensified efforts toward youth agribusiness development through partnerships with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security as well as the Ministry of Youth Development.
Ehui expressed optimism that stronger partnerships and sustained political commitment would produce significant improvements in Nigeria’s food security drive.
He maintained that collaboration remained the key to implementing bold reforms capable of transforming the agricultural sector.
In his welcome address, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions, Sharafadeen Alli, described the summit as a critical platform for dialogue, policy engagement, innovation exchange, and strategic partnerships.
According to him, agricultural colleges and institutions occupy a strategic position in Nigeria’s food production architecture and must be strengthened through improved legislation, funding, research support, and private-sector collaboration.
Observers at the summit noted that Nigeria’s agricultural sector possesses enormous untapped potential capable of reducing unemployment, improving food sufficiency, and diversifying the economy away from oil dependency.
However, experts insist that achieving these goals would require sustained investments in agricultural education, technology, infrastructure, mechanisation, and market access.
For many stakeholders, the Ibadan summit may well represent the beginning of a broader national conversation on how innovation, research, and strategic collaboration can help Nigeria confront one of its greatest challenges — feeding its growing population while creating jobs and economic opportunities for the future.
