FG plans commercial farms on 500,000 hectares at 40 tertiary institutions

The Federal Government plans to turn underused land in 40 universities, polytechnics and colleges of education into commercial farms, with each institution able to access up to ₦2bn in financing.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the plan at a meeting with heads of the selected institutions and the Bank of Agriculture in Abuja. A statement from his media aide, Ikharo Attah, said the scheme is called the Renewed Hope Tertiary Agricultural and Entrepreneurship Programme.

The government is targeting more than 500,000 hectares of underutilised land across the institutions. Each school is expected to provide about 1,000 hectares, though Alausa said institutions with smaller landholdings can still qualify if their business proposals are viable.

How the money and land will work

Under the arrangement, every participating institution will set up a limited liability company to deal with the Bank of Agriculture. The bank will provide between ₦1bn and ₦2bn per institution for production and farm inputs.

The support package includes 10 tractors per school at reduced cost under the government's mechanisation programme, as well as seedlings, irrigation equipment, water pumps, fertilisers and technical expertise.

Alausa said the plan builds on earlier interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which approved ₦1bn and ₦2bn for some institutions. The ministry has also set aside ₦20bn in its capital budget to support 20 institutions under the initiative.

To protect farmers from losses after harvest, the minister said arrangements will be made with produce aggregators to buy the crops. The next phase will focus on processing and other agro-allied businesses.

Students, unemployed graduates, alumni, academic and non-academic staff, and host communities will be encouraged to take part in the farming, under the supervision of lecturers and agricultural experts.

The Bank of Agriculture's Managing Director, Ayo Sotinrin, said the bank will provide financing and market linkages so institutions can turn research into commercial production and earn revenue.

The Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Adamu Ahmed, welcomed the initiative, saying it would help the university use its Institute of Agricultural Research and Faculty of Agriculture to move from research to commercial farming. The Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Dr Chioma Awuzie, also commended the programme, saying it would help the school put its land to productive use through mechanised farming.

Why it matters for food prices

The plan comes as many Nigerian households struggle with food costs. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimated that 36.3 million people faced acute food insecurity during the June–August 2026 lean season.

In its September 2026 country brief, the FAO said Nigeria's annual food inflation rose for the sixth straight month to 20.3 per cent in July, from 8.9 per cent in January. It blamed rising input and transport costs, insecurity in farming states, high fertiliser prices and bad weather.

Alausa projected that the programme could attract investments running into trillions of naira in the coming years and make tertiary institutions centres of agricultural innovation rather than depending only on government funding.

He said the ministry will work with the Bank of Agriculture, relevant agencies and the institutions to ensure the programme is implemented.