Productivity is never in short supply, but the thing is, output alone doesn’t feed a nation. Across Nigeria, farmers continue to deliver harvests season after season, only to watch their crops degrade before reaching the market. The problem isn’t in the soil. It’s in the system. In Agricultural Supply Chains in Nigeria: From Farm to Market Efficiency, Jumoke Raji-Ayoola examines the friction between production and distribution, and why food supply continues to break down at the very point it should be creating the most value.
This is not a book filled with policy suggestions from a distance. Jumoke writes from years of direct exposure to the realities of transport gaps, fragmented markets, poor inventory systems, and inconsistent pricing structures that undermine both farmers and buyers. She breaks down the logistical barriers that turn abundance into loss, from lack of cold storage to unreliable haulage, weak data systems to ill-timed aggregation. Her analysis doesn’t stop at identifying the problems. It shows the design flaws that make them persistent.
Each section is built around practical insight. She lays out what it takes to coordinate movement across rural terrains where weather can stall access, where middlemen dominate routes, and where producers are often locked out of price-setting decisions. There’s clear attention to the everyday complications, how a delay of hours can shift quality, how poor route planning inflates transport costs, how the absence of market information leaves farmers guessing rather than negotiating.
She also dives into structural tensions, why government-led interventions struggle to deliver results, how donor programs misread local trade culture, and where informal systems outperform formal infrastructure purely by adapting to their environments. She doesn’t argue for disruption for its own sake; she argues for systems that are functional, scalable, and responsive to the realities of agricultural trade in Nigeria.
This book is especially valuable because of its balance. It speaks to the processor in Ogun as much as the policy analyst in Abuja. It has something to offer the logistics startup struggling with last-mile delivery, the cooperative trying to reduce post-harvest loss, and the development partner working on value chain optimization. The language is direct. The recommendations are grounded. The tone is clear-eyed and results-focused.
Agricultural Supply Chains in Nigeria is not a call for more farming. It’s a call for smarter movement. Jumoke Raji-Ayoola delivers a practical, honest guide to fixing a broken distribution system that continues to cost Nigeria money, time, and nutritional security.
