• Nigeria to double soybean farmland by 2026, targeting 460,000-tonne output boost.
• New strategy includes seed, soil, and private sector support; no action plan yet.
• Production dropped 14% since 2021, prompting first U.S. imports in six years.

Nigeria's government plans to allocate an additional one million hectares of farmland to soybean cultivation over the next two years. This is part of its new national soybean production and expansion strategy, adopted on Tuesday, July 22. If achieved, this goal would double the country's total area currently dedicated to the crop.

Today in Abuja, we officially launched the National Soybean Production Policy and Strategy, along with the Nigerian Soybean Partnership — a major step in building a competitive, nutrition-driven, and export-ready soybean value chain.

Nigeria produces 1.35M MT of soybean… pic.twitter.com/3UtpV1MQEe

— Sen. Abubakar Kyari, CON (@SenatorAKyari) July 22, 2025

Data compiled by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services, NAERLS, indicate that soybean cultivation covered 992,633 hectares in 2024. With this expansion, authorities also project an increase of 460,000 tons in output over the period.

To reach these goals, Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, stated that the new government-led development strategy includes interventions across seven priority areas. These involve seed innovation, soil fertilization, improved extension services, and climate-smart mechanization.

Additionally, the government is relying on the private sector's involvement and cooperation, as well as major producing states like Benue, to create a favorable environment for the crop's expansion. "With strong subnational leadership, federal-state collaboration, and private sector synergy, we will build a resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive soybean economy," Kyari added.

No concrete action plan has been announced yet. However, this new initiative comes as local soybean production in Nigeria has declined in recent years. For example, NAERLS data show that harvests fell by 14% between 2021 and 2024, dropping from 1.1 million tons to nearly 948,000 tons.

Although the exact causes of the decline were not detailed, several factors may explain the trend. These include persistent insecurity in the northern and central regions, which has forced many farmers to abandon their fields. This reduced cultivated areas and limited access to inputs, markets, and extension services.

This situation led Nigeria to import soybeans from the United States in 2024 for the first time in six years.

Stéphanas Assocle