Nigeria's Agric Trade Falls into ₦56bn Deficit as Exports Drop 33%

News in Brief

— Nigeria's agricultural trade recorded a ₦56.13 billion deficit in the first half of 2026, against a ₦740.27 billion surplus in 2025.

— Farm exports fell by 33.3 per cent to ₦1.98 trillion, while agricultural imports dropped by 8.5 per cent to ₦2.03 trillion.

Nigeria's agricultural trade slipped into a deficit in the first half of 2026, as farm export earnings fell sharply while the import bill stayed high. An analysis of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) trade data shows a ₦56.13 billion deficit, compared with a ₦740.27 billion surplus in the first half of 2025.

The figures cover the first and second quarters of 2026, with the second quarter accounting for most of the decline in agricultural export earnings.

Agric Exports Drop by One-Third

Agricultural exports fell by 33.3 per cent to ₦1.98 trillion in the first half of 2026, from ₦2.96 trillion in the same period of 2025.

Agricultural imports also fell, but by a smaller margin of 8.5 per cent, from ₦2.22 trillion to ₦2.03 trillion. Because exports dropped faster than imports, the trade balance moved from surplus to deficit. In simple terms, the country spent more on farm products bought from abroad than it earned from selling its own.

Second Quarter Drives the Reversal

The first quarter of 2026 was still positive. Exports stood at ₦1.17 trillion against imports of ₦827.72 billion, leaving a surplus of ₦344.65 billion.

The second quarter told a different story. Agricultural exports dropped to ₦802.99 billion from ₦1.26 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, while imports rose slightly to ₦1.20 trillion from ₦1.18 trillion. This produced a ₦400.78 billion deficit, larger than the first-quarter surplus and pushed the half-year figure into the red.

BusinessDay's report on the NBS figures put the second-quarter export decline at 36.09 per cent year-on-year and 31.51 per cent below the first quarter. Imports rose by 45.4 per cent between the first and second quarters, according to separate reports on the same data.

BusinessDay also reported that agriculture was the worst-performing export category in the quarter, even as Nigeria's overall trade surplus widened to ₦12.60 trillion.

Farm Products Take Bigger Share of Imports

Agricultural products made up 8.35 per cent of Nigeria's total imports in the second quarter, up from 7.75 per cent in the same quarter of 2025. In the first quarter, their share was 6.08 per cent.

The lower half-year import bill does not necessarily mean local farmers are now supplying more of the country's needs. The NBS data does not state why imports fell.

Cashew, Cocoa and Sesame Still Earn Big

Despite the fall, several crops continued to bring in significant export income in the second quarter. Cashew nuts (in shell) were the biggest earner at ₦268.62 billion.

Standard-quality cocoa beans followed with ₦154.31 billion, while sesame seeds earned ₦96.03 billion. Superior-quality cocoa beans were valued at ₦58.82 billion, while soya beans (excluding seeds) earned ₦50.22 billion, down 61.2 per cent from ₦129.27 billion in the first quarter.

Other notable exports included soya bean flours and meals at ₦36.41 billion, cut flowers and flower buds at ₦31.43 billion, natural cocoa butter at ₦27.60 billion and crude shea oil at ₦12.66 billion.

Agriculture Still Key to Jobs

Agriculture also remains one of the country's biggest employers. NBS data show that 25.34 million people worked in agriculture, forestry and fishing in 2023, representing 30.1 per cent of Nigeria's workforce.

That was higher than wholesale and retail trade, which employed 23.13 million people, or 27.5 per cent of the workforce.

The Nairametrics analysis says the latest figures highlight the challenge of turning Nigeria's large farm output and workforce into steady export earnings and a stronger agricultural trade balance.