NIPOST launches agriculture programme to reduce post-harvest losses

NIPOST launches agriculture programme to reduce post-harvest losses

The Postmaster General of the Federation/CEO of the Nigerian Postal Service, Tola Odeyemi, said on Wednesday that NIPOST launched its integrated logistics and storage backbone Agriculture programme to reduce post-harvest losses by farmers in the country.

Odeyemi, who put post-harvest losses at 40 percent of agricultural produce across the country, said the programme would benefit over one million small-holding farmers and 3,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

According to the NIPOST Chief Executive, the agriculture programme would leverage NIPOST’s existing infrastructures in all the 774 local government councils to establish modular storage hubs, digital traceable tools, and corridor-based fleet operations to move agricultural produce from farms to storage facilities.

Odeyemi made the remarks during the celebrations of the 2025 World Post Day and the unveiling of “the Face of NIPOST 2025” initiative at the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.

She said the theme of this year’s celebration, “Post for people: local Service, global reach,” was deliberately chosen to explain the trajectory of NIPOST since it joined the other 193 member countries of the Universal Postal Union, UPU.

The NIPOST boss said the Agriculture programme known as NIPOST Agro-Infrastructure and Logistics Initiative (NAILI) was a flagship programme designed to align with the federal government programme to boost food security in the country.

Odeyemi said NIPOST is being recalibrated to provide effective and efficient logistics services across the World, saying “we are here to connect people, businesses, and communities through a robust, integrated network of postal and logistics services.”

“We are committed to driving socio-economic development by ensuring that every Nigerian, regardless of location, has access to reliable and affordable postal services and a channel to access governmental services”, Odeyemi said.

She said the National Addressing System was being developed in collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPC) and other technical partners to replace the analogue numeric postcode with a digital postcode to facilitate efficient mail delivery, enhance government services accessibility, and emergency services.

Odeyemi said, “The new digital postcode is Nigeria’s new alphanumeric code system identifying specific geographic entities that will enhance accuracy in geographical entity identification and is integrated into a digital map and GIS, acting as the backbone for urban planning and Nigeria’s digital economy.

“This digital postcode, which will eventually be the technology on which the national addressing system will be built, will capture every part of Nigeria using a systematic framework for alpha-numeric characters from state, LGA, postcode districts, postcode areas, and postcode units.”

Speaking on NIPOST’s collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Odeyemi said NIPOST introduced a 15 percent logistics discount for all registered MSMEs to benefit about 20,000 members as a way of contributing to the Gross Domestic Product of the country.

She announced that the 2025 World Post Day letter writing competition, which received over 1000 entries, was won by Adeyemo Jedidiah and Adewunmi Princess Boluwatigba of Methodist Girls High School, SaboYaba, Lagos State, and Okuwoli Elizabeth of ST. Jude’s Private Secondary School, Festac Town, Lagos.

She added that the three overall national winners won the cash prizes of One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000), Seventy-five Thousand Naira(N75,000), and Fifty Thousand Naira(N50,000) respectively.

NIPOST launches agriculture programme to reduce post-harvest losses - The Nation Newspaper