What changed
Nigeria plans to adapt Ethiopia’s mechanised-farming experience and launch a 20-billion-tree campaign during the next rainy season.
Vice President Kashim Shettima announced the plans on October 9, 2026, while leading a Nigerian delegation through farms and agricultural facilities in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Nigeria intends to expand large-scale mechanisation, improve access to quality seeds and promote climate-smart agriculture.
Why it matters
The proposed shift would put machinery, seeds and climate planning at the centre of Nigeria’s effort to produce more food at home. Shettima said dependence on imported food weakens national sovereignty, linking agricultural output directly to the country’s economic independence.
Ethiopia is the model Nigeria wants to study. Its wheat sector moved from roughly $1 billion in annual imports to domestic self-sufficiency and surplus exports to Djibouti and Kenya. Oromia’s president, Shimelis Abdisa, also said Ethiopia cultivates more than 200 crop varieties and has expanded exports including bananas, avocados and coffee.
The tree campaign adds a second track to the plan. Inspired by Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, it would combine environmental restoration with potential livelihood opportunities. Twenty billion trees is an enormous target, so the practical test will be whether Nigeria can turn the announcement into a funded, monitored programme during the next rainy season.
No implementation budget, legal instrument, delivery timetable or monitoring framework was provided, and it remains unclear whether Nigeria has formally adopted Ethiopia’s methods or secured implementation agreements. The announcement is therefore best understood as a policy direction, not yet an operating programme.
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