Nigeria is losing an estimated $9–10 billion annually to post-harvest waste — such loses would undermine food security and pose a slow economic growth.
Segun Alabi, the Chief Executive Officer of Davidorlah Nigeria Limited, an agritech firm leading large-scale pineapple farming and fruit concentrate production in West Africa said this on Tuesday.
He revealed that the losses arise from “suboptimal harvesting practices, inadequate storage, poor transportation systems, and limited processing capacities,” which cause 30 to 50 percent of Nigeria’s agricultural output to perish every year.
“What Nigeria loses annually to post-harvest waste is enough to transform the agricultural sector and significantly boost GDP if properly managed,” he said while briefing journalists in Abuja.
He stressed that addressing the crisis requires urgent investments in modern storage systems, cold-chain infrastructure, silos, and decentralized processing hubs to extend the shelf life of perishable crops. Alabi also highlighted the need for farmer training, improved rural roads, affordable preservation technologies such as solar dryers, and supportive government policies.
“When farmers retain more value from what they plant, the entire value chain grows. This means higher national productivity, better rural livelihoods, and a more resilient agricultural sector,” he said.
Alabi noted that effective waste-reduction strategies could create thousands of new jobs in logistics, storage management, food processing, equipment manufacturing and farmer-training services — especially benefiting women and young people in rural areas.
He also pointed to environmental gains, noting that cutting waste would reduce pressure on land and water resources while lowering greenhouse-gas emissions from decomposing organic matter. Waste-to-wealth opportunities — including composting, organic fertilizers, animal feed, bioenergy and bioplastics — offer “new and profitable frontiers for entrepreneurs,” he added.
Alabi called for a national policy shift, warning that Nigeria “cannot continue to lose billions of dollars every year to waste when those same losses represent enormous opportunities for wealth creation.”
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