KEY POINTS
- Nigeria’s food market hits $233.53 billion in 2025.
- Record 137 exhibitors attend agrofood Nigeria 2026.
- Post-harvest losses cost Nigeria up to N5 trillion yearly.
Paul Marz did not bury the lead. Taking the podium at the 2026 Nigeria agrofood Exhibition and Conference in Lagos last week, the managing director of Messe opened with a projection that had the room paying attention: the Nigeria food market is expected to hit $233.53 billion in 2025 and also grow at 10.76 percent annually through 2030.
That combination of scale and trajectory is exactly why the 11th edition of agrofood Nigeria pulled its largest international turnout on record, with 137 exhibitors arriving from 17 countries across four continents.
Record attendance signals global appetite
This year’s theme, “Achieving World-Class Food Security in Nigeria,” was not chosen lightly. Marz said the event, co-organized with local partner Modion Communications, exists to close the distance between Nigeria’s ambition and the technology it still needs. Import figures made the case plainly: Nigeria brought in 265 million euros worth of food and packaging technology in 2024, making it West Africa’s top importer. While packaging alone accounted for 121 million euros.
“By enabling direct engagement with international solution providers, agrofood Nigeria promotes technology transfer, strengthens supply chains and supports informed investment decisions across Nigeria and the wider West African market,” Marz further said.
Post-harvest losses are hollowing out the gains
Furthermore, the sharpest remarks of the day came from Alexander Isong, president of the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa. Isong told attendees that the Nigeria food market’s deepest wound is not on the farm but after it.
“The real bottleneck in the food industry in Nigeria is no longer on the farm, but everything that happens after the harvest,” he said.
The losses he cited were staggering. Between 3.5 trillion and 5 trillion naira, representing 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food, was wasted in 2024 alone due to poor storage and broken logistics. More than 97 percent of Nigeria’s agricultural exports still leave the country completely unprocessed.
The record also turnout at agrofood Nigeria 2026 suggests global investors are paying close attention. Whether the capital that follows can match the scale of the problem is now the defining question.
