By Adamu Lawal Toro
In an ever-changing world, the definition of national security has expanded beyond the conventional military threats to encompass a broader spectrum of risks, including economic instability, food insecurity, climate change, and the ensuing social unrest in the form of banditry, insurgency, and other forms of criminality. Among these, agriculture occupies a central position, especially in Nigeria where it is a primary source of livelihood and food supply.
Within these contexts, agricultural insurance is not just a financial instrument—it is a national security imperative. It underpins the resilience of the agricultural sector, protects rural livelihoods, ensures food supply stability, and guards against the sociopolitical consequences of climate and market shocks and the farmer-herder conflicts that have become a national emergency.
The fact that agriculture accounts for 37% of the national GDP and employs more than 70% of the rural population underscores its strategic importance. Yet, the sector remains highly vulnerable to a range of risks, including erratic rainfall and droughts, flooding and erosion, pests and diseases, market volatility, and conflicts that displace millions from the rural areas where most agricultural activities take place. These risks do not only threaten individual farmers—they carry far-reaching consequences for national stability. For instance, crop failure, animal diseases, and heightened conflicts can lead to food shortages, price hikes, hunger, and social unrest. In severe cases, these can trigger cross-border migration, rural banditry, and even radicalisation, especially among unemployed rural youths. As such, a shock to agriculture can easily translate into a national security crisis.
This is where agricultural insurance comes in, not merely as a risk transfer mechanism, but as a strategic tool to protect food systems, stabilise rural economies, and prevent crises before they escalate. Food security is a cornerstone of national security. A nation that cannot feed its population is vulnerable to internal and external threats.
In light of the escalating security challenges in virtually all the geopolitical zones, it is necessary that the Federal Government rethink agricultural insurance by injecting massive investment into the sector to ensure that no farmer loses his livestock or crops without adequate compensation. This is essential to ensure that farmers are insulated and encouraged to reinvest in their farms even after a bad season or conflict. It also helps reduce the volatility of food supply.
Access to insurance will enable farmers to adopt more innovative practices and climate-smart technologies without fear of catastrophic loss, thereby improving yields and food availability. It is imperative to understand that without insurance, farmers who suffer losses may abandon their farms entirely, leading to long-term food production decline. Therefore, insurance cushions these shocks and keeps them engaged in food production.
Reviewing the 2012 and 2022 floods that devastated thousands of hectares of farmland exposes the urgent need for agricultural insurance. In regions where farmers had insurance cover facilitated by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), some were able to receive compensation and continue their farming activities. Meanwhile, others who were uninsured lost everything and slipped into poverty. Poverty and unemployment—especially in the rural areas—are major drivers of insecurity in Nigeria. Insurgency, banditry, and rural violence often find fertile ground in communities where young people are economically disenfranchised and see no viable future in agriculture.
Therefore, the need for agricultural insurance becomes clearer as a means of reducing dependency by enabling self-reliance, promoting rapid recovery, and decreasing reliance on government or humanitarian aid. It also curbs rural idleness and vulnerability to recruitment by criminal groups.
A well-designed insurance framework, complemented with awareness campaigns and farmer education, can serve as a deterrent to the lure of armed groups offering quick financial rewards. Insurance, in this context, becomes not just a protective measure but a proactive peacebuilding tool.
Nigeria, like many countries within the Sahel region, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, and increasing frequency of floods are already impacting food production and livelihoods. As climate risk grows, so too does the importance of agricultural insurance as part of a national climate resilience strategy.
NAIC, as a Federal Government institution, must imbibe parametric and weather index insurance products that allow fast payouts to farmers affected by drought or excess rainfall. This quick response capacity is crucial in minimising the time between disaster and recovery—in other words, it is the difference between resilience and collapse for rural households.
It is gratifying to note that the newly appointed management of NAIC has taken it as a duty to increase the number of insured farmers in rural areas, who are the most vulnerable. Integrating smallholder farmers into the insurance ecosystem and using insurance as a tool to help resolve conflicts between farmers and herders is indeed a vision that must be supported by the Federal Government. This approach can help change the conflict narrative that has characterised the Nigerian landscape in the last 20 years.
Equally important is the need to decentralise access to insurance services. Establishing community-based insurance agencies in partnership with local cooperatives, farmer groups, and pastoralist associations like MACBAN will bring the services closer to the people who need them most. Leveraging digital platforms and mobile technology to register, educate, and compensate farmers quickly will also go a long way in creating transparency and boosting confidence in the insurance system. This level of inclusion ensures that even the most remote communities are not left behind in national risk mitigation efforts.
At this stage, the Federal Government must integrate agricultural insurance into national economic planning, national security frameworks, and disaster management systems. It must be seen not as a mere agricultural support policy, but as a security architecture that holds the fabric of rural life together.
A comprehensive strategy linking agriculture, insurance, climate adaptation, and rural security is the only way Nigeria can secure its future and build peace from the ground up.
Toro is a Director with the MACBAN Headquarters, Abuja.
*Views of this author don’t necessarily represent those of the Global South Focus.
