As fertiliser prices hit ₦50,000 a bag, governors across Benue, Plateau, Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa, Kwara and the FCT are opening the palace gates, some with subsidies, some with freebies, all under pressure to keep the nation's food basket full.
If you farm anywhere in Nigeria's Middle Belt this year, you've probably heard the same rumour in three different versions: "Government don bring fertiliser." From Jos to Lokoja, from Minna to the outskirts of Abuja, that rumour has turned into policy, and in some states, into actual truckloads rolling into local government secretariats right in the middle of the 2026 wet farming season.
Prime Brief Media tracked what every North Central state and the FCT are doing to get fertiliser into farmers' hands. Here's the full state-by-state scorecard.
Niger: The "Farmer Governor" Goes All In
Niger State isn't just hosting federal programmes it's running its own parallel operation at a scale that dwarfs its neighbours. Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, who styles himself the "Farmer Governor," used the flag-off of the 2026 farming season (attended by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu) to roll out 250 tractors, 50 combine harvesters, 1,500 planters, ploughs, boom sprayers and harrows, plus 150,000 bags of fertiliser targeting roughly 40,000 smallholder farmers across all 25 local government areas.
That's on top of Niger's share of the federal NADF FISP allocation, since Minna also hosted the flag-off of that four-state programme. Bago says the state procures and distributes 100,000 bags of fertiliser every season as standard practice, alongside herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, and has attracted over $1 billion in agricultural investment from partners spanning Lagos State, Dangote Group, and international investors in the US, UK, Germany, China and Brazil.
The takeaway: Niger is arguably running the most aggressive state-funded agricultural mechanisation programme in the entire region, with fertiliser as just one piece of a much bigger push to become Nigeria's "food basket."
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Plateau: Mutfwang Cuts the Price by More Than Half
Plateau just delivered the boldest state-funded move in the region. Governor Caleb Mutfwang approved the procurement of about 500 truckloads of fertiliser for the 2026 farming season and slashed the price of a 50kg bag to ₦20,000, down from the open-market price of ₦50,000 to ₦53,000, covering all 17 local government areas.
The subsidy took effect immediately, even before the formal launch scheduled for July 10, 2026, because the government didn't want farmers to lose planting days waiting for a ceremony. For a state still recovering from farmland attacks in places like Barkin Ladi, the timing carries extra weight Mutfwang has tied the fertiliser rollout directly to his promise that displaced farming communities will be protected and encouraged back to their land.
The takeaway: Plateau farmers now pay less than half of market price, funded almost entirely by the state.
Related: Plateau Subsidises Fertiliser as Mutfwang rolls out 500 Truckloads for Farmers
Kogi: A Two-Track Strategy - State Backing Plus Federal Muscle
Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo's administration has been layering support rather than relying on one programme. Under the IFAD-VCDP scheme, cassava farmers in Kogi have received hundreds of litres of herbicides, over a thousand bags of NPK fertiliser and thousands of bundles of improved cassava stems, while rice farmers got their own package of herbicides, certified seeds and urea and NPK fertiliser bags on top of cargo tricycles to move produce to market.
That's stacked on federal support: Kogi was also one of the states that received truckloads of agricultural inputs, including liquid fertilisers and power tillers, distributed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture through its coordinated intervention programme.
Ododo has repeatedly warned officials against diverting fertiliser meant for "real farmers only," a recurring theme in a state government that has previously pledged to bridge input costs directly through partnerships with fertiliser-supplying companies.
The takeaway: Kogi farmers are benefiting from both a dedicated IFAD-backed input programme and federal distribution with the governor personally policing against diversion.
Benue, Niger, Nasarawa and Kwara: Riding the Federal FISP Wave
These four states were bundled together under the National Agricultural Development Fund's (NADF) Farm Input Support Programme (FISP), which was flagged off in Minna, Niger State, with more than 20,000 smallholder farmers earmarked to share 80,640 bags of NPK fertiliser.
- Niger hosted the flag-off itself, with Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago backing the intervention for rice, maize and yam farmers.
- Benue farmers cultivating rice, yam and soybean were prioritised under the same rollout notable given Benue's status as the country's self-declared "food basket."
- Nasarawa and Kwara share the remaining allocation, with NADF officials stressing that every bag was locally manufactured and traceable, branded "NOT FOR SALE" to curb diversion.
Unlike Plateau's state-funded model, this is primarily a federally driven programme the states are hosting and endorsing it, but NADF is footing the bill and running the logistics.
The takeaway: Four states, one federal fertiliser pipeline, coordinated centrally, but claimed politically by each governor at the local flag-off.
FCT: Wike's 50% Subsidy Plus a Separate Federal Handout
The Federal Capital Territory is getting support from two directions at once. FCT Minister Nyesom Wike's administration procured 550 metric tonnes of assorted fertiliser including NPK, urea and fertiliser gels for sale to verified farmers across the six area councils at a 50 percent subsidy, alongside 3,500 knapsack sprayers.
Separately, NADF handed over more than 11,000 bags of fertiliser free of charge to nearly 3,000 registered smallholder farmers in the territory, targeting those cultivating less than half a hectare of land. On the ground, individual area councils Abaji and Kuje among them are running their own smaller-scale distributions to rural wards.
The takeaway: Abuja's farmers have access to a subsidised state scheme, a free federal allocation, and area council-level top-ups arguably the most layered support system in the region.
Nasarawa: A Governor Insists It's Not His Money - And Explains Why That Matters
Governor Abdullahi Sule flagged off distribution of 20,160 bags of fertiliser to Nasarawa farmers under the federal FISP programme, and went out of his way at the ceremony in Lafia to clarify something: this batch was a gift from President Tinubu, not a state government purchase because Nasarawa normally procures its own fertiliser every wet and dry season, and he didn't want farmers confused about the source.
Sule said the free allocation would ease pressure on farmers after last year's high fertiliser prices made it hard for even the state's own 10,000-hectare rice farm to break even.
The entire consignment is going to the 13 benefiting local government areas with none retained for state-owned farms, and the governor is personally supervising distribution to block diversion. Separately, the state has also run its own NG-CARES Fadama fertiliser and farm input programme reaching thousands of additional small-scale farmers.
The takeaway: Nasarawa is a useful example of how federal and state fertiliser efforts can blur together this round is federally funded, but the state has its own track record of buying fertiliser independently in other seasons.
Benue and Kwara: Sharing the Federal FISP Pipeline
Benue and Kwara round out the four states covered under the NADF Farm Input Support Programme flagged off in Minna, sharing in the pool of 80,640 bags of NPK fertiliser meant for 20,160 smallholder farmers.
Benue farmers cultivating rice, yam and soybean were prioritised under the rollout notable given Benue's status as the country's self-declared "food basket." NADF officials stressed that every bag was locally manufactured and traceable, branded "NOT FOR SALE" to curb diversion.
The takeaway: Unlike Niger and Nasarawa, no major state-funded fertiliser scheme has surfaced separately for Benue or Kwara this season for now, their farmers are relying primarily on the federal pipeline.
Bonus: Taraba Takes a Different Route - Machines Over Bags
Taraba isn't officially North Central, it sits in Nigeria's North East geopolitical zone but it's core Middle Belt territory and worth watching for PBM readers.
Governor Agbu Kefas has leaned harder into mechanisation than direct fertiliser handouts: his administration rolled out 120 pieces of heavy-duty farm machinery, including tractors, combine harvesters and excavators, under the Taraba State Accelerated Agriculture and Rural Development Scheme (TAARDS), with subsidised access for farmers across all 16 local government areas.
On the input side, Taraba farmers are being reached through the federally backed Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Programme, delivered via the Bank of Agriculture in partnership with Japtini Food & Retail Company, which is financing more than 15,000 farmers in the state with fertiliser, agrochemicals and improved seedlings.
The takeaway: Where Plateau and the FCT are cutting fertiliser prices directly, Taraba's state government is betting that machinery and mechanisation will do more for yields leaving fertiliser access mostly to federal and bank-backed programmes.
The Bigger Picture
Every governor name-checks President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda in these announcements, and it's clear the federal FISP programme is the backbone connecting most of these state-level stories. But the differences matter:
Plateau and the FCT are the only two North Central jurisdictions putting real state money into direct subsidies on top of what Abuja sends down, while Kogi is stacking federal inputs with its own IFAD-linked value chain programme.
For farmers, the practical question isn't which acronym is funding the bags it's whether the fertiliser actually reaches their farm before the rains move on. That's the story Prime Brief Media will keep following through the rest of the 2026 planting season.
Have you or someone in your community received fertiliser under any of these programmes? Share your experience with Prime Brief Media we want to know if the promises on the podium are matching what's arriving on the farm.
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