By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE National Agricultural Land Development Authority, NALDA, has aggressively embarked on vegetable production by unveiling greenhouse project.

The initiative according to the Executive Secretary, NALDA, Engr Cornelius Adebayo, during an inspection of a greenhouse located at the University of Abuja, Wednesday, said the project is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s drive to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production and boosting food and nutrition security.

Adebayo also explained that the project is to tackle the challenges associated with low vegetable cultivation and production.

He maintained that the initiative indicates the passion and foresight of NALDA in terms of empowering youth and women, boosting food security, and strengthening Nigeria’s food systems and farmers’ resilience.

The greenhouse project is going to produce tomatoes, peppers, avocados, and other vegetables while youth will be given training opportunities based on collaborations with universities and agricultural departments in the universities.

Meanwhile, he appealed to state governments and communities to make more lands available to rapidly multiply the project in order to create more agribusinesses and empower young people with self-employment opportunities.

He said: “The greenhouse project is in three phases because we realised that one of the major problems we have with vegetables is that we depend too much on seasonal production.”

Meanwhile, he disclosed that, “We approached Mr President for approval, which he graciously gave, for mega high-tech greenhouses across the country.”

He further stated that his agency is working on establishing three high-tech, temperature-controlled greenhouses including net-house greenhouses in Abuja and Ogun State.

He also explained that the essence of constructing greenhouse clusters is basically to ensure proximity and availability of the commodity to Nigerians, thereby, reducing high cost of transporting such perishable product from afar and contain post-harvest losses.

“In Giri, Abuja, we have about 20 units with one nursery. In Shagamu, Ogun State, we have 30 units with another nursery.

“Each site also includes a packing house for cleaning and packaging produce, cold storage facilities, and full solar energy functionality.”

“The greenhouses are strategically located to serve major markets like Abuja and Lagos.

“We are also supporting other greenhouse owners around Shagamu and Epe to increase their capacity.”

He also disclosed that 16 pilot locations including Cross River, Taraba, Plateau, and Gombe are already undergoing land clearing, with irrigation systems and other infrastructure to follow while by December 2025 the Abuja greenhouse farm will be launched and operational with others coming on stream in 2026.

“By December, this facility will be fully functional. We have already started enlisting farmers to manage the structures, and our officials will monitor compliance with best practices”, he said.

On safety of the facilities he said, “It is just atmospheric condition control. It is normal, very safe, and cleaner. Plants simply need the right environment to thrive, and that’s what we’re providing. This allows year-round vegetable production.”

However, he (Adebayo) made it clear that there is nothing like loan about the initiative rather it is a government-backed empowerment programme, and it is basically to boost farm infrastructure for food production that is climate smart agriculture approach.

Meanwhile, farmers who are to man the greenhouses are youth – each youth allocated two net houses to operate as independent agripreneurs who are to be supervised by NALDA.

“Most of these facilities will be handed over to young people who understand how to run them.

“The idea is to engage youth productively while ensuring food availability”, he said.

According to him, NALDA’s model of greenhouse is designed to ensure price stability for vegetables by establishing clusters and offtake arrangements put in place

“When you have a big enough cluster, you can manage price control indirectly. We know the cost of production, what the offtaker earns, and what we expect to see in the market. That way, we can help stabilise prices without imposing government price controls”, he added.

He said also that the aim is, “Outside every major city in the world, you see clusters of greenhouses supplying that city. As the giant of Africa, we should do no less.

“Our goal is to ensure that fresh vegetables are available and affordable for Nigerians year-round.”