Nigeria launches climate-smart agribusiness and 10-year food plan
Two Nigerian agriculture initiatives were unveiled on July 26, 2026. The Federal Government, partnering with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), launched the Climate-Smart Agribusiness Partnership for Resilience (CSAPR) Project in Abuja. Funded by the Gates Foundation and implemented through the SAPZ Programme, CSAPR integrates Climate Information Services into agricultural value chains to help farmers, agribusinesses and investors manage climate risks. Speaking at the launch, NiMet Director-General Prof. Charles Anosike tied the project to President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda, while Permanent Secretary Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi called it "a significant step towards building a more productive, inclusive and climate-resilient agricultural sector." Early milestones include automated weather stations installed in Ogun and Kano States and digital devices distributed to farmer-organisation leaders for timely advisories.
Separately, Agriculture Minister Senator Abubakar Kyari unveiled a National Agri-Food Systems Strategy and Action Plan aligned with the African Union's Kampala Declaration (2026–2035). The 10-year plan, developed through consultations across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones, is to be submitted to the Federal Executive Council for legal backing. Kyari reported that 500,000 farmers had been financed through the Smallholder Financing and Value Chain Fund, more than two million bags of fertiliser and 34,000 metric tonnes of improved seeds had been distributed, and 2,000 tractors had been deployed under the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme. One million improved hybrid cocoa seedlings were also distributed.
Nigeria backs agriculture with record budgets and finance reforms
Nigeria's agricultural allocations have more than doubled in two years, from N228.4 billion in 2023 (1.05% of the total budget) to N362.94 billion in 2024 (1.32%) and N826.5 billion in 2025 (1.7%), described as the largest peacetime agricultural budget allocations in Nigeria's history. The Federal Government has also recapitalised the Bank of Agriculture with N1.5 trillion and secured a $1 billion intervention fund from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) — the National Smallholder Farmers Fund — aimed at addressing credit access for inputs, mechanisation and market linkages. The signing of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 in March 2025, which repeals the 2007 ISA, addresses the legal vacuum that has kept warehouse receipts from functioning as trusted financial instruments.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu said Nigeria's agricultural sector is supported by over 42 million farming households and that reforms including the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development and the transfer of fisheries to the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy demonstrate the government's commitment to repositioning agriculture. The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has distributed more than 500,000 bags of free fertiliser to over 120,000 farmers across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory, while disbursing more than ₦16 billion in agricultural loans across key value chains.
Philippines proposes record farm budget amid rising output
Philippine Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr., speaking on July 26, 2026 at the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines' Food Security Forum in Makati, said the Department of Agriculture's budget has risen from P117 billion in 2022 to P215 billion in 2026, with a P250 billion proposal for 2027. Despite erratic weather and lingering animal diseases, agriculture and fisheries output grew 2.6% in 2025 and gross value added rose 3.1%. Laurel also noted that agriculture's share of gross domestic product declined to 7.9% in 2025 from 19% in 2005.
Laurel outlined measures including calibrated rice imports, expanded government-subsidized KADIWA stores, new maximum suggested retail prices, use of the National Food Authority's reserve inventory, and rice sales to vulnerable consumers at P20 per kilo. He highlighted planned investments in mega food hubs, food terminals, modern agriports and fish hatcheries, alongside a vaccine development centre at Central Luzon State University, the expansion of agricultural extension workers and the launch of the Agricultural Command Center and Agriculture-based Central Data Ecosystem platform. More than 100 notices of violation of the P50 price cap on imported 5% broken rice have been issued, and seizures with the Bureau of Customs include misdeclared goods, smuggled cigarettes and 200 tons of expired meat products.
South African farms reel from post-deadline migrant labor exodus
An exodus of more than 160,000 migrants, largely to Zimbabwe, after an unofficial June 30 deadline set by fringe anti-foreigner groups has left South African farms short of labour, the African Insider reported on July 26, 2026. In KwaZulu-Natal's sugar belt, one farmer on the north coast said he lost up to 80% of his cane-cutting workforce "virtually overnight," with production and supply deteriorating to the point where mills may struggle to stay open. Citrus and table-grape producers reported similar shortages, with Zimbabwean farmworker Aaron Majatamhe telling AFP that "people have to harvest those naartjies but there is no one."
The government has expanded its Trusted Employer Scheme, which fast-tracks worker visas for companies meeting requirements including predominantly employing South Africans. Siyabonga Madlala, chief executive of the South African Farmers Development Association, urged creation of a regulated seasonal worker programme similar to one in the United States, with a possible "special dispensation allowing seasonal labour from SADC countries where local supply is insufficient." Police data showed at least four foreigners were killed during the unrest, and unions note national unemployment above 33 percent.
Cuban farms return to oxen under US fuel blockade
Cuba's fuel blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump in January 2026 has intensified the country's worst post-revolutionary energy crisis, the Jamaica Observer reported on July 26, 2026, plunging homes and businesses into darkness for up to 70 hours at a time. With diesel now costing over US$3 a litre — roughly half the average monthly public-sector wage — farmer Alexander Quesada has parked the government-gifted tractor at his eight-hectare organic farm Finca Burgambilia and now uses a pair of oxen to pull his plough. Higher-value crops such as salad rocket have been replaced by cheaper yucca and sweet potato, on which he barely breaks even.
The Cuban Government last month unveiled plans to privatise chunks of the economy while keeping land mostly public, allowing farmers to cultivate much larger areas indefinitely, create companies, and giving cooperatives rights to import and export directly with price controls lifted. Cuban economist Ricardo Torres, a research fellow at the American University in Washington, told AFP that the outlook for small farmers was "mixed": "Those with capital and organisational capacity will benefit; those without face a tougher transition with thinner safety nets." Cuba imports nearly all the food it consumes, including eggs, and the State is running out of money to import goods at subsidised prices.
US food safety programmes weakened by Trump-era staff cuts
The US FDA has lost about 20% of its staff and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 25% during President Trump's second term, according to a CBS News report on July 26, 2026, leaving outbreak surveillance weakened as a cyclospora outbreak linked to contaminated Mexican iceberg lettuce shipped by Taylor Farms affects nine states. The CDC's food-parasite tracking team has fallen from 11 scientists to three, and the joint FoodNet surveillance programme — previously tracking eight pathogens — now tracks only two after reporting on others became optional on July 1, 2025.
The 2011 Traceability Rule, which would require detailed supply-chain records from field to store, has been delayed until 2028, meaning a cyclospora outbreak next year still cannot be traced under current rules. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said criticisms of the administration's food safety programmes were "invalid" and that FoodNet cuts were for "redundant surveillance," a characterisation disputed by former head of food safety Mayne. The Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, a self-regulating coalition of West Coast growers, continues to require sanitised irrigation water, source-and-end testing, gloves, knife disinfectant, state inspections at least three times a year and field-traceable barcodes.
Share this article
