How Nestlé is Adding Value to Nigeria's Agriculture

From farm to factory, Nestlé Nigeria is deepening its impact on Nigeria's agricultural sector through massive local sourcing, farmer empowerment and climate-smart agriculture.

In line with its Creating Shared Value principle, the company now sources an average of 80 percent of its raw materials locally — including maize, sorghum, millet, soybean, cassava starch, cocoa and palm olein — from over 41,600 Nigerian farmers and processors.

1. The GOLDEN MORN Cereals Plan

Through its Nestlé Cereals Plan, the company works with over 30,000 farmers who supply 100 percent of the grain requirement for GOLDEN MORN Maize. The project provides training in good agricultural practices, post-harvest handling and quality control, which has seen crop rejection rates in Kaduna drop from over 30% to just 4%. 3655

2. Sorghum and Millet in the Sahel (SMS) Project

Launched with the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and 2Scale, the project supports over 10,671 smallholder farmers in the North with sustainable farming and business training in organizational skills and leadership.

3. MAGGI Regenerative Agriculture - Soybean

MAGGI, Nigeria’s leading seasoning brand from Nestlé, launched a Regenerative Agriculture (RegenAg) pilot in 2023 with an investment of over *₦100 million to support 1,030 soybean farmers to adopt climate-smart practices.

Implemented with TechnoServe and IDH, with technical guidance from the Centre for No-Till Agriculture (CNTA), Ghana, the project introduced cover cropping, minimal tillage (ripping), crop rotation and hedgerows, leading to healthier soils and higher yields. 

Beneficiary farmer, Engineer Lawan Abdul, reported his yield doubled from 12 bags to 24 bags per hectare after adopting the practices.

“Soybean is a key ingredient in MAGGI, and supporting local farmers to grow it sustainably is central to our mission,” said Funmi Osineye, Category Manager for Culinary, Nestlé Nigeria. “This initiative is more than a sourcing strategy; it is an investment in resilient food systems." 

Following the pilot's success, MAGGI has scaled the programme to support 25,000 smallholder farmers across Nigeria.

4. $1 Million StreFaS Partnership for Climate-Smart Grains

In June 2024, Nestlé Nigeria, in collaboration with AGRA and TechnoServe, announced a $1 million investment to drive regenerative agriculture and climate-smart production of maize, soybean, rice and sorghum in Kaduna and Nasarawa States. The initiative, branded StreFaS, runs from June 2024 to October 2027 and targets 25,000 smallholder farmers and eight aggregators.

"At Nestlé, we believe that good food starts with high-quality ingredients and the well-being of the people who produce them," said Wassim Elhusseini, MD/CEO of Nestlé Nigeria. "Globally, we aim to source at least 50% of our key ingredients from farmers practicing regenerative agriculture by 2030." 

5. Dairy Development

Beyond crops, Nestlé's dairy development project at Paikon Kore operates as a learning hub, showing how local cattle yields can rise from ∼1 litre to over 10 litres per cow per day through improved breeding, feed and hygiene. Facilities include 19 boreholes and 28 water troughs, with over 36,000 cattle vaccinated. 

The company says these investments reduce forex dependence, save an estimated $20 million in import costs, stabilize rural livelihoods and cut its carbon footprint by lowering synthetic fertilizer use and improving soil carbon storage.