Farming in Kebbi and Taraba States: What Nigeria Actually Publishes

If you came to this page for the number of hectares under rice in Kebbi State, or for agriculture's share of Taraba State's economy, we have to start by taking something away. An earlier version of this article gave you seven such figures. None of them came from Nigeria's statistics office, from a federal or state ministry of agriculture, or from any other body that publishes agricultural data. They are gone, and what follows is what is actually on the record about farming in these two states — including the parts that are not on the record at all.

The figures that were here, and why they are gone

The removed claims were specific enough to be planned around, which is what made them dangerous: a rice area and an annual tonnage for Kebbi, an average farm size, a rice area for Taraba, a yield per hectare described as better than the national figure, and a percentage share of each state's economy for agriculture. We searched for a publisher for each one. We found none. Where a number like that exists in Nigeria, it comes from the National Bureau of Statistics or from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and neither publishes these.

What Nigeria does publish about farm households

There is a real, recent and serious survey behind Nigerian agricultural statistics, and it covers both states. The National Bureau of Statistics documents the National Agricultural Sample Survey 2023, an agricultural household survey run with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization. From its own documentation, read on 24 October 2026:

• Fieldwork ran from 6 July to 9 September 2022, and the survey year is recorded as 2022.
• It covers 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and 767 of Nigeria's 774 local government areas.
• The sample is 15,591 enumeration areas and 152,485 households designated for coverage.
• Seven local government areas were left out for security reasons: three in Borno State and four in Imo State.
• The universe is agricultural households in crop or livestock farming, with fishery households in a subsample.

That is the instrument. Kebbi and Taraba are inside it.

Why there is still no state tonnage in this article

Two things in the same documentation stop us turning that survey into the numbers the old version of this page carried. First, the published microdata exclude geography below the local government area, and the catalog does not state that the survey yields state-level estimates. Second, the figures a reader can see in the catalog's variable pages are unweighted record counts, and the Bureau warns that they cannot be read as summary statistics for the population. The catalog's own terms say its providers bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

So the honest position is this: a survey that covers these states exists, the microdata are available to a registered user who will weight them properly, and no state-level crop area, tonnage or yield for Kebbi or Taraba is published in a form this article can quote. If you need one, the two places to ask are the National Bureau of Statistics and the agriculture ministry of the state itself.

The same gap swallows the state authority this article named. The earlier version credited a Kebbi state agricultural and rural development authority with training and input support for farmers. A body of that general description appears in state government documents, but we could not find a published page, mandate, budget or output figure for it that we could read and date, so we are not describing what it does. Anyone who needs to deal with it should approach the Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development directly and ask which agency holds the function now. The same applies in Taraba, where we found no reachable published page for the equivalent body.

Crop prices that are published, and what they are not

What can be put next to a crop is a market price. Our own reference data hold World Food Programme market monitoring for Nigeria, measured for September 2026, each figure being the median of the Programme's own cross-market aggregates across four reporting units (three for imported rice). For the crops this article is about:

• Local rice: NGN 3,250 per 2.7 kg
• Imported rice: NGN 4,000 per 2.8 kg
• Millet: NGN 1,050 per 2.6 kg
• Sorghum: NGN 1,000 per 2.7 kg
• Maize flour: NGN 1,650 per 2.1 kg
• Yam: NGN 3,250 per 2.5 kg
• Groundnuts: NGN 4,037.50 per 2.2 kg

Read these for what they are. They are national retail consumer prices from market monitoring, on a very small number of reporting units. They are not farmgate prices, they are not prices in Kebbi or in Taraba, and they say nothing at all about how much of any crop either state grows. The one thing they do show is the gap between locally grown and imported rice at retail, which is the single most quoted fact about Nigerian rice policy and is usually quoted without a figure attached.

Before you plan a visit, read your own government's advice

This matters more than anything else on this page, and the earlier version did not mention it at all while encouraging readers to consider agricultural ventures in both states. Both Kebbi and Taraba appear in published travel advice with restrictions. The United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in advice updated 21 October 2026, lists both states among those to which it advises against all but essential travel.

That is a quotation, not our advice. We do not give travel or security advice and we are not telling you whether to go. What we are telling you is that an official published assessment exists and that it is not neutral, that different governments reach different conclusions, and that the one that applies to you is your own government's. Read it before you book, read it again before you travel, and understand what it does to your insurance and to any employer duty of care. Nothing in this article should be read as a route, an itinerary or practical help with getting anywhere.

What we could not establish

• Crop area for either state. No hectare figure for rice or any other crop in Kebbi or Taraba is published in a source we could cite.
• Production tonnage or yield per hectare for either state. Likewise unpublished. The claim that one state's yield beats the national figure has no publisher.
• Agriculture's share of either state's economy. We found no state-level economic accounts giving it.
• Average farm size. Not published at state level in anything we read.
• The mandate or output of the state agricultural authorities. No reachable published page.

What expats should know

• Treat every state-level agricultural figure as unsourced until the Bureau of Statistics or a state ministry gives it to you.
• The National Agricultural Sample Survey 2023 is the real instrument, with fieldwork in July to September 2022 and 152,485 households designated.
• Its microdata stop at local government area level, so a state total has to be estimated, with weights, by someone competent to do it.
• Market prices are published; production is not. The September 2026 monitoring puts local rice at NGN 3,250 per 2.7 kg against NGN 4,000 per 2.8 kg for imported.
• Read your own government's travel advice first. Both states carry restrictions in the published advice we checked.
• Ask the state ministry, not a guide, about land, inputs, extension services and which agency currently holds which function.

Where to check

The survey design, dates, coverage, sample size, security exclusions and data disclaimer are from the National Bureau of Statistics documentation for the National Agricultural Sample Survey 2023, read on 24 October 2026. The travel advice wording is from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's regional risks page for Nigeria, updated 21 October 2026 — cited as an example of published official advice, not as advice that applies to you. The market prices are World Food Programme monitoring held in our own reference data, with the measurement month and the number of reporting units given above.

AI-Generated Content: This article was created with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important information with official sources.