Nigeria is currently unable to meet the local demand for vegetables, with a supply gap of around 13 million metric tons. The HortiNigeria programme aims narrow this gap by transforming and accelerating the development of a sustainable and inclusive horticulture sector that contributes to food and nutrition security in rural communities and alleviates poverty.

The goals of the programme are aligned with the Dutch and Nigerian food security and private sector development objectives and fit within the framework of the larger food systems transformation in Nigeria.

HortiNigeria aims to enhance smallholder farmers’ social capital and contribute to their empowerment within the market, particularly focusing its interventions on women and youth. The programme will incentivise value chains and support the sustainable integration of entrepreneurial farmers into profitable markets.

In collaboration with Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation and Wageningen Plant Research, KIT will provide strategic and technical knowledge in areas such as capacity building, innovation-led production systems, youth and gender inclusion, sector coordination, enabling environment, agribusiness growth, and monitoring, evaluation and learning.

Sub-Objectives

The programme has several sub-objectives:

• Double smallholder productivity and income
• Achieve ecologically sustainable land use and climate-resilient farms
• Create direct jobs supported by private sector development programmes
• Reach Dutch and local businesses with a supported plan to invest, trade, or provide services
• Improve access to finance and make financing infrastructure more inclusive and effective
• Improve access to digital solutions.

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the programme:

• 60,000 smallholder farmers, of whom 50% are youth and 40% are women, will have increased productivity and/or income, resulting in an annual incremental production value of €9.7 million
• Acreage under sustainable land use will have increased by 15,000 hectares
• At least 2,000 entrepreneurial farmers (50% youth and 40% women) will have adopted new knowledge and/or technologies
• 50 horticulture-related small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will have a business and investment plan to invest, trade or provide services
• Of these SMEs, 50% will be youth-owned and 40% will be female-owned.

HortiNigeria is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria, is led by IFDC, and implemented together with East West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, and Wageningen University & Research Center.