Nigerian farmers can now heave a sigh of relief as the federal government has launched a N200 billion Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) Programme, that will bring down the prices of grain to ₦380,000 per ton as against ₦500,000 standard price.
The Managing Director, Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Ayo Sotinrin, who announced this at a Press briefing in Abuja, also explained that, under the GMP, eligible farmers who cultivated maize during the 2025 dry and wet seasons would be guaranteed a floor price of ₦350,000 per tonne where market prices fall below the guaranteed level.
The escalating insecurity in farming communities, climate disasters, untimely rains, prolonged droughts, and dwindling water sources, have contributed to continuous increase in food price inflation, compounding the challenges of food security.
For years farmers have been at their wits’ end fighting for survival, as input costs have steadily risen and selling prices have failed to keep pace.
In response to these challenges and to protect farmers from depressed commodity prices and stabilising the prices of staple grains in the country, the Nigerian government has launched a ₦200 billion Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) mechanism.
The initiative targets more than 500,000 farmers and aggregates at least 500,000 metric tonnes of grains in the first phase.
The authorities assured that the programme is designed exclusively for genuine farmers and not commodity traders and would give no room for fraudulent activities by middlemen.
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(Editor: Ken Eseni)
