The National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS) is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the FAO for poverty reduction in line with the National Economic Empowerment Strategy. It focuses on the transfer and application of low-cost technologies to improve agricultural productivity and sustain agricultural systems, over a five- year period. The programme includes projects on: (i) food security; (ii) aquaculture and inland fisheries; (iii) animal disease and trans-boundary pests control; (iv) marketing of agricultural commodities; (v) soil fertility initiative; (vi) food stock management and (vii) South-South cooperation.

The Programme’s broad objective is to contribute to sustainable improvements in national food security through a rapid increase in productivity, to reduce yearly variability and to improve the people’s access to food. Its specific objectives are to:

• Assist farmers to increase output, productivity, and incomes

• Strengthen the effectiveness of research and extension services by bringing technology and new farming practices developed by research institutes to farmers

• Concentrate initial efforts in pilot areas for maximum effect and ease of replicability

• Educate farmers in the effective use of available land, water, and other resources to produce food and create employment

• Utilize international experience for integrated farming practices, to maximize use of existing facilities and knowledge and to spread benefits to wider areas.

The NSPFS has bolstered the productivity and sustainability of the small-scale agricultural systems with obvious improvements in beneficiaries’ livelihoods, food security, and socioeconomic status. State governments have funded the establishment of additional NSPFS sites while the federal government increased the number of sites from 109 to 327 beginning in 2007. The direct beneficiaries of the NSPFS are farmers in all 36 States and the FCT; 70,000 households through site development and 785,000 via the outreach programme, and research institutes.

Agricultural subsidy policy in Nigeria has been subject to significant changes since the 1970s. Most recently, a federal policy provides a 25% subsidy under the Fertilizer Market Stabilization Programme, and state governments implement various fertilizer subsidies levels to augment these (Eboh et al., 2006). Adamawa, for instance, subsidizes agricultural inputs and implements, but this is not done through any coordinated government programme. Subsidized fertilizer comes through the Ministry of Agriculture and a hiring programme of agricultural implements is sometimes implemented through CSOs, e.g. the National Council of Women Societies received fertilizer for distribution at subsidized rates to female farmers (Holmes et al 2011).

In Benue, the Ministry of Agriculture, funded by the state government, provides farm inputs at a subsidized price, covering 28 LGAs state-wide. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that farming associations and poor farmers do not tend to benefit from the inputs, which go to better-off farmers or are sold. There are also problems with the timeliness of disbursement (Holmes et al 2011).

In Edo, the Ministry of Agriculture organizes fertilizer supply and distribution programmes to reach the rural poor. Between 2007 and 2011, 350,000 farm families in Edo state received fertilizers from the ministry at subsidized rates (Holmes et al 2011). Other small programmes exist at the state level: for instance, the Millennium Development Village project operates in two villages in Kaduna and Ondo state providing agricultural support (seeds/fertilizer subsidies).