Ginger blight returns in Kaduna as Nigeria struggles to rebuild $713 million industry

Disease returns to Nigeria’s main producing state

Ginger blight has returned to Kaduna State as Nigeria attempts to rebuild an industry valued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation at $713 million, or N962.5 billion. BusinessDay reported that farmers have detected the fungal disease in several local government areas of Kaduna, the country’s largest ginger-producing state. Early symptoms include dark spots, yellowing and wilting leaves, drying plants and rhizome rot.

Shinom Adinga, a farmer in Kurmin Dangana village in Kagarko Local Government Area who works with 360 Degree Organic Farmline Limited, said the outbreak had affected the community since early July. He warned that it would significantly affect the harvest, which begins in October and November. Another Kagarko farmer, Yusuf Usman, said growers were spending heavily on chemicals to contain the disease as cultivation costs continued to rise.

Usman said he had not recovered from a N12 million loss suffered during the 2023 outbreak and had planted only a small area this year, which was also attacked. Farmers are calling for government support to prevent another collapse and to stop the fungus from reaching other important producing states. Abdulsalam Ahmad, chief executive of Tripe Gee Merchant Nigeria Limited, specifically identified Nasarawa and Plateau as areas at risk.

Production remains far below historic levels

Before the 2023 outbreak, Nigeria was Africa’s largest ginger producer and the world’s second-largest exporter. The crop supports an estimated 500,000 smallholder farmers and provides the country with foreign-exchange earnings. Another severely damaged season could therefore affect farm incomes, domestic processors and exporters while allowing China and India to capture more market share as global demand rises.

FAO data cited by BusinessDay put Nigerian production at 751,473 metric tonnes in 2022. AFEX Commodities estimated that output collapsed to 67,600 metric tonnes in 2023 when the first blight outbreak occurred. Production recovered to 159,600 metric tonnes in 2024, but remained far below the historical level of more than 700,000 metric tonnes.

The renewed outbreak comes as farmers are still dealing with insecurity, recurring disease and rising input expenses. Higher chemical costs add to the financial pressure, particularly for smallholders who lost crops in 2023 and have limited capital for replanting. The extent of the new losses will depend on the spread of the fungus and the effectiveness of containment measures before harvesting starts.

High domestic prices constrain exports

Nigeria’s ginger export earnings fell from N26 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to N5.3 billion in the second quarter of 2026, according to National Bureau of Statistics data cited by BusinessDay. The country recorded no ginger exports in 2025 or in the first quarter of 2026. Exporters attribute the weakness to reduced supply and production costs that have pushed domestic prices above international quotations.

A metric tonne of fresh ginger currently sells locally for N5.2 million, equivalent to $3,851, while dried split ginger costs N11.5 million, or $8,518, per tonne. BusinessDay said the dried product’s price was 184% above the international market price of $3,000 per tonne. Ahmad said most exporters had not resumed shipments since 2023, underscoring how local scarcity has weakened Nigeria’s international competitiveness.

The government launched the Ginger Value Chain Recovery and Sustainability Programme in June to restore the sector. The new outbreak will test whether that intervention can deliver disease control, affordable inputs and viable planting material quickly enough to protect the coming harvest. Without effective containment, Nigeria risks prolonging its export absence and losing further ground in markets it previously supplied.