Bottlenecks, delayed input delivery and financial constraints hindered the full impact of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) $134 million National Agricultural Growth Scheme–Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) wheat intervention across participating states, a new report has revealed.

The study, commissioned by ActionAid Nigeria and conducted by TSD Consult, found that though the NAGS-AP Wheat Intervention Programme expanded wheat cultivation and improved access to farm inputs during the 2023–2025 dry-season farming cycles, delays in federal approvals and logistical challenges led to the late delivery of inputs across beneficiary states.

Presenting the report’s findings to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the Team Lead of TSD Consult, Mr Tunde Salman, said delays in the delivery of fertilisers and other inputs had adversely affected wheat production under the programme.

According to him, “late land preparation has resulted in portions of the wheat crop being excluded from production cycle entirely, thereby suppressing the program’s potential output.”

The findings further revealed how ghost farmers and political appointees infiltrated the beneficiary lists, thereby crowding out the legitimate smallholders, and how farmers were unable to afford the 50 per cent counterpart fund requirements, thereby forcing many farmers to sell their input allocations to agro dealers.

The report noted that though the farmers reported that the imported heat-tolerant varieties performed well compared to local strains, with yields up from an average of 13 bags to 20 bags per hectare, the continued importation has exposed the absence of a robust domestic seed multiplication system.

In her remarks, the Deputy Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Suwaiba Muhammad-Dankabo, said the programme was designed to reduce Nigeria’s heavy dependence on wheat imports, which currently account for about 90 per cent of the country’s wheat requirements.

She said the assessment was to determine whether the intended beneficiaries, particularly smallholder farmers, women, youth and persons with disabilities, were benefiting from the intervention.

Muhammad-Dankabo emphasised that sustainable wheat production expansion would require stronger institutions, improved seed systems, increased investment in irrigation infrastructure and better integration of agricultural extension services.

Presenting the policy recommendations, Mohammed-Dakwambo urged the NAGS-AP project management to enforce strict timelines for seed delivery before the end of October each year, improve access to redemption centres, and publish verified beneficiary lists at the ward level to enhance transparency.

The other recommendations include strengthening federal and state ownership of the programme, deploying real-time public dashboards for project tracking, improving ICT infrastructure during redemption exercises, and investigating allegations of input diversion, adulterated agrochemicals, fertilisers and uncertified seeds.

Meanwhile, Muhammad-Dankabo urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the NAGS-AP Secretariat, the AfDB and other stakeholders to act on the report’s recommendations, stating that Nigerian wheat farmers, particularly women smallholders, deserve transparent, accountable and result-oriented programmes capable of improving productivity and livelihoods.