In the mid-1970s, Nigeria grappled with worsening food insecurity, escalating food import costs, and a widening gap between its increasingly oil-dependent economy and agricultural heritage.
After the civil war, the agricultural sector had declined sharply, even as oil revenue increased. Nigeria found itself importing significant quantities of staple foods such as rice and wheat, further straining foreign exchange reserves. These dynamics, coupled with a surge in rural-urban migration and global inflationary pressures from the 1973 oil crisis, forced the government to rethink its national priorities.
In response, General Olusegun Obasanjo’s government launched the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) initiative in 1976 as a nationwide campaign designed to reawaken domestic food production, reduce dependence on food imports, and encourage all Nigerians, regardless of status, to participate actively in agriculture.
This article reviews the policy’s objectives, implementation strategy, public reception, outcomes, and legacy, drawing lessons relevant to current agricultural reforms.
Operation Feed the Nation was conceived in a post-civil war context, when Nigeria’s oil boom had shifted national focus away from agriculture. The policy aimed to reverse the decline in food production by encouraging mass participation in agriculture, particularly targeting urban dwellers, civil servants, students, and military personnel.
The stated objectives of OFN included:
The policy strongly emphasised self-help, community action, and patriotic duty as tools for agricultural revival.
The implementation of OFN involved a combination of direct government intervention and public mobilisation. Key strategies included:
The government also invested in large-scale mechanised farming and established training centres to build technical knowledge among young Nigerians. Institutions such as the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) played key roles in developing instructional materials and outreach strategies.
Agricultural content was integrated into school curricula, while radio and print campaigns popularised slogans like “Go back to the land.” Incentives such as low-interest loans, land allocation, and free tools were provided to those willing to engage in framing, especially civil servants and students.
The public response to Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) was enthusiastic initially. In particular, incentives and patriotic messaging attracted civil servants and university students.
Urban residents took up backyard gardening, and schools established demonstration farms. The NYSC’s integration into the programme gave OFN a strong youth outreach, embedding agricultural work in national service.
However, this enthusiasm was not universal or sustained, as many elite participants treated OFN as a symbolic gesture rather than a practical commitment. In some areas, subsidised inputs were diverted or sold on informal markets.
Rural farmers were often sceptical, citing limited infrastructural support, bureaucratic hurdles, and the short-term nature of state interventions. Nonetheless, the campaign succeeded in placing agriculture squarely in the public consciousness and sparked broader debates about food security and self-reliance.
Operation Feed the Nation’s short-term impact was mixed. On one hand, the programme successfully increased national consciousness around agriculture and drew the participation of many first-time farmers.
Input distribution improved rural and urban growers’ access to fertilisers and tools. Youth engagement, through schools and NYSC, also marked a departure from prior top-down policies.
But the programme fell short of achieving food self-sufficiency. Agricultural output did not increase at the pace expected, and several structural challenges undermined its success.
These included poor coordination among federal and state institutions, corruption in the distribution of inputs, limited technical support, and a lack of infrastructure, such as irrigation and storage. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms were weak, making it difficult to track progress or scale effective interventions.
By the early 1980s, OFN had been phased out and replaced by the Green Revolution Programme under President Shehu Shagari, which focused more on commercial farming and mechanisation.
Unlike its successor, the Green Revolution Programme, OFN focused more on mass mobilisation and civic participation. While both policies aimed to boost food production, OFN sought to involve the public in agriculture as a national duty. In contrast, the Green Revolution leaned more toward technocratic approaches, capital-intensive solutions, and commercial yields.
Across Africa, countries like Ghana and Kenya ran similar agricultural campaigns during the same era. Still, Nigeria’s OFN stood out for its strong integration with the NYSC and nationwide media engagement.
Despite its limitations, Operation Feed the Nation remains a landmark in Nigeria’s agricultural policy history. It demonstrated political commitment to addressing food insecurity and showed the potential of national mobilisation when paired with institutional support.
Key lessons from OFN include:
OFN’s push to make agriculture a shared responsibility in Nigeria has continued to influence later frameworks, including the Agricultural Transformation Agenda and current efforts to promote agripreneurship among youth.
Operation Feed the Nation was a bold and ambitious attempt to reconnect Nigerians with food production during a national transition. While it did not achieve its full objectives, it left behind valuable lessons in policy design, implementation, and public engagement.
As Nigeria continues to navigate the twin challenges of food security and economic diversification, the core idea behind OFN, which is that agriculture must be everyone’s business, remains significant.
