A landmark initiative by the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit aims to cushion 250,000 smallholder farmers against climate shocks and market volatility, offering insurance protection and access to low-interest financing across eight vulnerable states.
By Ese Ufuoma
In most farming communities across Nigeria, the weather has become increasingly unpredictable, and the markets even more challenging to forecast. One week, the rains drown everything, the next the sun dries up what is left. Prices rise and fall without warning, leaving farmers to hope their harvest can survive both nature and the market. This year, something different is happening. The Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit, PFSCU, has stepped in to indemnify 250,000 smallholder farmers, giving them some protection when things go wrong, whether it is a climate disaster or a sudden drop in crop prices.
What PFSCU is doing may sound simple, but for the farmers involved, it is a major shift. Many of them have spent their entire lives working without any kind of safety net. When floods hit, they rebuild on their own. When drought destroys their crops, they start again with whatever they can save. When market prices crash, they take the loss quietly and hope the next season is kinder. Insurance has always felt like something far away, something meant for big farms or big businesses, not the small producers who feed most of the country.
The new insurance scheme focuses on eight states: Borno, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, and Taraba, areas that have seen repeated climate shocks in recent years. PFSCU worked with Leadway Assurance, PULA, and state governments to design a system that farmers can actually use. The states are paying part of the premium, PULA is supporting with technical capacity, and PFSCU is coordinating the rollout. The idea is simple: spread the risk so farmers are not left alone when the unexpected happens.
One of the strongest parts of the program is the way it connects insurance with actual farming support. Leadway and PULA are not just collecting premiums; they are spending time with farmers, teaching them how the insurance works, how payouts are calculated, and how they can adjust their farming practices to reduce climate risks. In many communities, this is the first time anyone has sat farmers down to explain issues like extreme weather patterns, soil stress, and market behaviour in a way that makes sense to them.
PFSCU added another layer to the effort through its “Harvesting Hope Caravan,” which has already travelled across multiple zones. It is an outreach project that brings extension workers, insurance educators, agronomists, and local leaders together to speak directly with farmers. There are no long speeches, no complicated presentations, just practical conversations about how to survive and grow in a changing climate.
The scheme also ties into a bigger push by the Federal Government to support food production. The Vice President recently directed PFSCU to fast-track a ₦250 billion loan for smallholder farmers, which will come at single-digit interest. The thinking is that insurance alone is not enough; farmers also need capital to expand, adopt new methods, and prepare for the realities of climate change. PFSCU wants to make sure the insurance covers the risks while the loan helps create growth opportunities.
Even with the progress, there are challenges. Not all states are fully on board, and that limits how quickly the program can expand. Some farmers are still unsure about insurance, especially those who have never received payouts from any government scheme in the past. PFSCU knows trust will take time. Clear record-keeping and timely payouts will determine whether farmers believe in the system or see it as another promise that doesn’t deliver.
However, for those already enrolled, the feeling is different. They say that even if the rains fail or the markets drop, they are not completely exposed. It may not solve every problem, but it softens the blow, and that alone is meaningful.
If this program works the way it is designed, it could reshape the way rural producers survive shocks. It could show that smallholder farmers do not have to carry every loss alone.
Moreover, it could prove that with the right structure, clear rules, committed partners, and honest communication, agricultural insurance can move from being a foreign concept to something that everyday farmers rely on.
For now, PFSCU’s move to insure 250,000 farmers is a big step. It is not perfect, but it is a beginning. In a country where climate uncertainty grows every year, beginnings like this matter. It gives farmers hope that when the sky turns rough or the markets behave badly, someone is standing with them, not after the damage, but before it happens.