S.J. Akor1, J.A. Adegbola2, R.Q. Adegbola2, S. Abdulazeez1, M.E. Oshili1, L.O. Sanni2
1University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
2Nigerian Stored Product Research Institute, Kwara State, Nigeria
(Manuscript received 10 July 2025; accepted for publication 04 December 2025)
Corresponding author e-mail: tayoadegbola@yahoo.com

Abstract. Nigeria is not food self-reliant, in actual fact, the country is going through a food insecurity crisis regardless of being one of the world’s largest producers of most of its key staple foods. This article utilized secondary sources across several disciplines to provide a nuanced and balanced transdisciplinary consideration of incongruities that exist in food production data and hunger reality in Nigeria. It explores Nigeria’s food production outlook through critical lens, contrasting academic narratives shaped by pseudo-data with pragmatic realities of widespread hunger while examining the reported agricultural commodity production data, highlighting figures as well as sources – it scrutinized the paradoxical relationship between mainstream data and persistent hunger in Nigeria. Consequently, the paper addresses well known issues like postharvest losses, exportation of staples, bureaucracy, as well as political interest. Furthermore, it postulated the cause of dissonance between data and hunger reality in Nigeria – the crux of this paper – to be chiefly, inconsistent production and/or postharvest losses figures. By unpacking these issues, this paper provided a well-adjusted perspective on Nigeria’s food production landscape and emphasized the need for data integrity in the food production space. Conclusively, it suggested that all the issues raised, especially spurious production data be critically looked into, as only through this, Nigeria food production statistics would be in synch with and be a reflection of its agricultural output and food needs of its population.