Nigeria, with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and partners, has launched a nationwide Readiness Assessment for the Nigerian Farmers Soil Health Scheme (NFSHS) to tackle soil degradation, boost food security, and meet climate goals.
The audit will map soil damage, guide public spending, and support policies like Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0) and National Agriculture Technology and Innovation Policy (2022–2027).
At the Abuja launch, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Dr. Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative aims to establish 774 soil testing laboratories (one per LGA), and create the Nigeria Soil Information System (NISIS) to provide personalized Soil Health Cards and crop-specific fertilizer recommendations..
The scheme aims to addresses depleted soils caused by erosion, nutrient loss, and climate stress. It will align fertilizer rules, improve lab capacity, enable testing for up to 2 million farms yearly, link soil data to finance for farmer loans, and remove access barriers for smallholders.
It also supports climate targets by improving carbon storage and reducing emissions, with agroecology and agroforestry offering major CO₂ cuts. The initiative is central to climate-smart agriculture and aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s push toward commercial farming.
He noted that years of nutrient depletion, erosion, and climate-related stress have left a significant portion of Nigeria’s farmland exhausted.
“If we do not take decisive action, we will be unable to achieve the objectives outlined in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), the National Agriculture Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP 2022–2027), or the National Agriculture Resilience Framework,” the Minister warned.
The Minister emphasized that the Readiness Assessment would provide Federal, State, and Local Governments with a unified set of facts to guide expenditure. ‘’As His Excellency, Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR signed the 2026 budget appropriation, this assessment will indicate where every naira will yield the highest return, the best nutrition, and the greatest resilience,”.
He stated further that the Initiative would address five critical areas: the alignment of fertilizer regulations, extension guidelines, and state budgets with soil health objectives; the adequacy, turnaround time, and precision of operational soil laboratories; the preparedness of Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs), NISIS, and private labs to test 2 million farms annually; the integration of soil data with financial platforms to unlock loans for farmers; and the barriers of cost, distance, or awareness preventing smallholders from accessing soil testing.
Sen. Abdullahi explained that the NFSHS is fundamental to Nigeria’s NDC 3.0 targets, which require agriculture to contribute 0.4% of total emission reductions by 2035. Healthy soils sequester carbon, reduce nitrous oxide emissions, and lower dependence on synthetic fertilizer. He added that agroecology and agroforestry alone can achieve cuts of 158–712 million tons CO2e.
Meanwhile, the scheme next steps include scaling mobile soil labs, expanding organic inputs (biochar, lime, cover crops), digitizing extension services, linking farmers to credit and insurance, and restoring watersheds. State Soil Desks will be set up nationwide, backed by federal–state funding agreements.
Targets by 2027 include that 10 million farmers would be using soil-test advice, 5 million hectares under improved practices, digital soil cards across all LGAs, 30% reduction in post-harvest losses, and youth- and women-led soil enterprises.
Officials say the program will improve productivity, resilience, and sustainability, while partners like Food and Agriculture Organization have pledged continued support.
