Nigeria’s agricultural sector is facing one of its toughest challenges in recent years as the continued slide of the naira against the CFA franc forces farm foreign workers out of the country, leaving local farmers grappling with a severe labour shortage.

For decades, Nigeria relied on workers from francophone neighbours such as Benin Republic, Togo, and Niger to provide critical manpower for its farms.

These foreign workers were drawn by the relative strength of the naira, which gave them higher earnings than what was obtainable in their home countries.

However, since the naira lost over 50 percent of its value following the 2023 devaluations, the situation has dramatically reversed.


Abiodun Olorundero, Managing Partner at Prasinos Farms, confirmed that rural farming communities are struggling to find labourers.

“Since the naira devaluation, getting reliable farm workers has become difficult.

Nigerians are largely uninterested in manual farm labour, and foreign workers who previously filled this gap have left due to weaker earnings,” he explained.

The result is a steep increase in labour costs. According to Olorundero, average farm wages have surged by 160 percent in two years, from about N25,000 to N65,000 per month.

This is a significant strain for smallholder farmers already battling high input costs, poor infrastructure, and climate-related disruptions.

Nigeria’s reliance on manual labour remains alarmingly high.

Data from the Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) reveals that about 70 percent of farm labour still comes from human effort, 20 percent from draft animals, and less than 10 percent from mechanisation.

With the average age of Nigerian farmers hovering around 60 years, the rising labour costs threaten to accelerate a looming food security crisis.


Ibrahim Kabiru, President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), explained that the exodus of foreign workers is directly tied to currency shifts.

“In the past, it cost farmers about N5,000 a day to feed a labourer from outside Nigeria, and the earnings were attractive because of the strong naira.

Now, with the CFA franc trading stronger at 2.71 to N1, that attraction is gone,” Kabiru said.

He added that many farmers can barely feed themselves, let alone pay competitive wages to workers from neighbouring countries.

The weakening naira has eroded Nigeria’s labour advantage, leaving francophone workers with little incentive to migrate for farm work.



Experts warn that the ripple effects are already visible. Oyewole Okewole, Senior Associate Consultant at FutuX, an agri-tech and food security advocacy firm, highlighted that the shortage of skilled farm workers has reduced efficiency across many farms.

“We now have inexperienced labourers taking on jobs previously handled by skilled hands.

This incompetence increases operational costs and reduces output, which in turn worsens food inflation,” Okewole said.

Food production is expected to decline further unless urgent measures are taken.

Analysts warn that consumers should brace for higher prices of staples such as maize, rice, and cassava, which are heavily dependent on intensive manual labour.



The crisis underscores Nigeria’s slow progress in agricultural mechanisation.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Nigeria remains at an early stage of mechanisation, with most power-intensive farm operations still performed manually.

Stakeholders argue that without accelerating mechanisation, the country will remain vulnerable to external shocks, including currency fluctuations and labour shortages.

“This is a wake-up call,” Olorundero stressed. “Nigeria cannot rely indefinitely on cheap labour from neighbours. Mechanisation is the only sustainable path forward.”


The federal government has announced several initiatives, including partnerships with the Bank of Agriculture and Afreximbank’s $1 billion facility for smallholder farmers, to ease access to credit and promote mechanisation. However, implementation remains slow.

Experts are calling for a multi-pronged approach:

Incentivising youth participation in agriculture through training and subsidies.

Investing in farm mechanisation and rural infrastructure to reduce dependence on manual labour.

Stabilising the naira through stronger monetary and fiscal coordination to restore Nigeria’s regional competitiveness.

Encouraging non-oil exports to strengthen foreign reserves and ease pressure on the currency.


Until such measures are effectively deployed, Nigerian farmers are likely to remain trapped in a cycle of high costs, declining productivity, and food insecurity.



The exit of foreign farm workers is more than just a labour issue—it reflects the deeper structural weaknesses of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

Without urgent reforms in mechanisation, currency stability, and farmer support, the country risks worsening its food crisis and further alienating the younger generation from agriculture.