The World Agriculture Forum Nigeria (WAF) has inaugurated a Country Council in Abuja to coordinate action on agriculture, food systems, and rural development in a country where food insecurity is worsening despite growing output.
Speaking at the inauguration, WAF Executive Director Dr. MJ Khan described the council’s formation as a step toward structured, high-level engagement between agricultural stakeholders, government, and international partners.
The Federal Government and the World Agriculture Forum Nigeria are collaborating to transform post-harvest management and cold chain infrastructure in the country to improve food production, a partnership that the new council is expected to anchor and accelerate.
Nigeria loses an estimated 38 million tonnes of food annually to post-harvest losses, according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, representing a supply gap that presses directly on food prices and household food access.
Cold chain infrastructure, which includes refrigerated transport and storage, remains underdeveloped across most of the country’s food supply corridor.
The council’s inauguration signals that WAF sees Nigeria as a priority market for the kind of coordinated public-private dialogue its model is built on. Whether the structure translates into concrete infrastructure investment or remains a platform for high-level conversation will depend on what the council commits to in its first operating cycle.
