By Rasheeda Hamidu
Climate change is increasing food production costs in Nigeria by worsening irrigation, transportation and other challenges faced by smallholder farmers, climate expert Taye Ojo has said.
Ojo, Programmes Manager at the Development of Education Action Network (DEAN), made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said smallholder farmers were particularly affected because they produce a significant share of the food consumed by communities.
According to Ojo, farmers also face difficulties transporting produce to markets, with poor roads and delays increasing the risk of losses for those producing perishable crops.
“Sometimes they (smallholder farmers) find it difficult to even transport their farm produce to the market,” Ojo said.
He explained that irrigation farmers were spending more on petrol to pump water from drying rivers, while also bearing the costs of engine oil and equipment maintenance.
Ojo said these higher production and transportation costs were eventually transferred to consumers through increased food prices.
He linked Nigeria’s food inflation to several structural and economic pressures, including agricultural input costs, exchange-rate depreciation, insecurity and weaknesses in food supply chains.
The climate expert also identified excessive heat as an emerging challenge for crops such as yam, saying some farmers had experienced spoilage even at harvest.
Ojo, who is also Project Lead of DEAN’s Climate Democracy Accelerator Programme, said poor roads, limited access to agricultural inputs and inadequate climate-smart farming practices were compounding the difficulties created by climate-related pressures.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria’s national average Cost of a Healthy Diet reached ₦1,589 per adult per day in April 2026, rising 3.12 per cent from ₦1,541 in March.
Ojo urged governments and other stakeholders to reduce farmers’ production costs while strengthening access to climate-smart practices that can improve their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
NatureNews notes that rising climate-related production costs can affect both farmers’ livelihoods and consumers’ access to affordable food, making climate-resilient agricultural systems increasingly important for Nigeria’s food security.
