By Abdullahi Lukman
Nigeria recorded between N3.5 trillion and N5 trillion in post-harvest losses in 2025, with an estimated 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food wasted across major agricultural value chains, the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has said.
The President of OTACCWA, Alexander Isong, disclosed this in an interview in Lagos, attributing the losses to inadequate cold storage systems, poor logistics and weak infrastructure.
According to him, the losses affected key commodities such as tomatoes, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, fish and root crops.
He explained that the wasted produce had already been cultivated, harvested and transported, meaning the country was losing Gross Domestic Product that had effectively been created.
Isong noted that farmers had invested heavily in land preparation, seedlings, fertiliser, labour, irrigation and transportation before the goods were lost due to inefficiencies in storage and distribution.
He stressed that post-harvest losses go beyond agriculture, describing the issue as both an infrastructure and economic challenge.
Without certified cold chain systems, he warned, Nigeria would continue to face food inflation, declining farmer incomes and limited export competitiveness.
The OTACCWA president called for urgent national investment in refrigerated transport systems, aggregation centres and modular cold storage facilities.
He described cold chain infrastructure as the critical link between agricultural productivity and economic prosperity.
Isong further identified the lack of adequate cold storage facilities as the primary obstacle to reducing post-harvest losses, adding that without substantial investment in cold chain systems, the growth and full potential of the agricultural sector would remain constrained.
