Major Boost for Women and Youth in Agriculture
The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has joined forces with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and IDH in a significant tripartite agreement to provide affordable agricultural loans specifically designed for women and young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. This partnership was officially sealed during the Women in Sourcing and Enterprise (WISE) Programme held in Lagos.
Priority for Cassava Farmers and Processors
Women operating within the cassava farming and processing sector will be given top priority for these financial facilities, according to the official statement released by the institutions. The initiative directly addresses the well-documented challenges that smallholder farmers and agribusiness owners face, including prohibitively high interest rates, insufficient collateral, and a general lack of financial products that are tailored to the unique needs of the agricultural sector.
Under this new collaborative framework, the partners will work to enhance agricultural credit systems and develop a Seed Capital Facility. The core objective is to establish robust systems that enable smallholder farmers and small-to-medium agribusinesses to access affordable and blended financing options, which are crucial for expansion and investment in modern farming techniques.
Driving Food System Transformation and Job Creation
Representatives from NADF, BOA, and IDH have emphasized that this initiative is a strategic move to support national goals of improving food security and promoting greater participation of youth and women in agriculture. The collaboration will be operationalized through the Nigerian Food Systems Transformation Alliance, a platform designed to coordinate interventions that create sustainable jobs across various agricultural value chains.
Speaking at the signing event, the CEO of IDH, Daan Wensing, identified access to finance as a primary barrier preventing youth from engaging in agriculture. He stated that this partnership is a crucial step towards "catalysing new opportunities that will enable them to participate meaningfully across the cassava value chain."
The Managing Director of BOA, Ayodeji Sotinrin, reaffirmed the bank's commitment to inclusive agricultural development, pledging to finance as many farmers as possible and ensure no one is left behind.
Abdullahi Imam, the Head of Debt Investment at NADF, who represented the Executive Secretary, confirmed that the funding opportunity will commence with a focus on young women and youths in the cassava value chain. He also revealed plans to subsequently extend the credit facility to farmers and entrepreneurs in other vital crop sectors, including maize, rice, and soybeans.
This financial intervention aligns with the federal government's previously announced plans to industrialize the cassava sector. The government aims to shift from exporting raw cassava to manufacturing high-value finished products like starch, ethanol, flour, and animal feed within Nigeria, thereby capturing more value from the country's status as the world's largest producer of the crop.
