. Nigeria’s Agricultural Problems Start After Harvest…

Nigeria does not need to grow more food to solve its food security challenges. It needs to preserve and efficiently distribute what it already produces.

This was the take of Opeyemi Runsewe, the CEO Terrosso Group while speaking on the issues of Agriculture in Nigeria and how to permanently solve it.

According to him, cold chain infrastructure is the critical link between agricultural output and real economic value as it directly affects farmer income, food quality, market stability, and export competitiveness.

“Nigeria enters 2023 with a national issue that should concern a country of its size and agricultural potential. It ranks among the top producers of cassava, yam, tomatoes and vegetables globally. It has over 70 million hectares of fertile land and feeds a population of more than 200 million people from some of the most productive soil on the continent. Yet, year after year, a significant share of that produce disappears before it reaches a single plate. The produce is neither stolen nor exported. It is lost, rotting in open trucks, spoiling in unventilated storage, and deteriorating along transport routes between farms and markets. The reason for this is the absence of functional cold chain infrastructure.

“As Nigeria moves into 2023, the scale of the problem is already clear. An estimated 40 percent of the food produced annually is lost before it reaches consumers, translating to approximately 9 billion dollars in value each year. Across sub-Saharan Africa, post-harvest losses average around 37 percent of production between harvest and retail. Nigeria’s losses track closely with, and in many cases exceed, that benchmark. For perishable commodities such as tomatoes, vegetables, fruits, and fish, roughly half of all fresh produce is lost before reaching the consumer. Losses for tubers, fruits, and vegetables consistently fall between 50 and 60 percent, reinforcing the structural weakness in how food is handled after harvest.

“In major tomato-producing states such as Kaduna and Kano, the inefficiency is severe. Post-harvest losses for tomatoes reach as high as 65 percent across harvesting, handling, transportation, and storage. For a crop that is produced in large volumes and is central to daily consumption across the country, losing nearly two-thirds of output before it reaches processors or markets represents a systemic economic failure. Processing capacity remains underutilised because the supply of quality raw materials is inconsistent. Even large-scale facilities operate below capacity due to the absence of reliable cold chain systems that can preserve and transport produce at scale.

“Nigeria’s cold chain market, currently valued at approximately N160 billion, remains significantly underdeveloped relative to demand. The country operates with less than 1,000 refrigerated trucks, despite requiring an estimated 25,000 to efficiently move more than 11 million metric tonnes of perishable food annually. The gap in infrastructure extends beyond transportation to include cold storage facilities, aggregation systems, and temperature-controlled logistics networks. As a result, Nigeria continues to lose an estimated N3.5 trillion annually to post-harvest waste. This is not a projection for the future. It reflects an ongoing loss that will persist and expand in 2023 if infrastructure investment does not accelerate.

“In 2023, this infrastructure deficit will become more visible in market outcomes. At the same time, markets in the cities will experience persistent supply shortages, leading to higher and more volatile prices. This imbalance will continue to reduce farmer profitability while increasing consumer costs, displaying a cycle where production does not translate into availability or affordability.”

Runsewe however noted that the private sector will play a defining role in addressing this gap. “Cold chain infrastructure represents one of the most underdeveloped yet high-potential investment opportunities in Nigeria’s agricultural economy. Companies building in this space are positioning themselves at the center of a structural shift in how food moves across the country.

“Thus, Terroso Agriculture, a subsidiary of Terroso Group, is focused on modernising the agricultural value chain through cold storage systems, refrigerated logistics, and technology-driven supply networks. Our approach integrates mobile cold rooms, scalable storage solutions, and data-enabled distribution systems designed to reduce post-harvest losses and improve market access for farmers while ensuring that perishable goods move efficiently from production zones to consumption centers and export markets.”

Further building on why cold chain infrastructure is a critical link between agricultural output and real economic value, Runsewe stated that the N3.5 trillion lost annually to post-harvest waste is not an unavoidable outcome. “It is the result of sustained underinvestment in the systems that support food preservation and distribution. In 2023, the consequences of that gap will continue to shape the agricultural sector, influencing prices, access, and the overall performance of the food economy. Closing that gap will determine whether Nigeria’s agricultural potential translates into real food security and economic growth.”