Nigeria Agriculture

Partway through an ambitious agricultural development strategy, Nigeria is looking to the land to boost employment, ease the economy’s dependence on oil and ensure food security, but it will need to address a host of challenges before it can enjoy the fruits of its investments.

A mix of reforms and investments aimed to revive Nigeria’s agriculture industry are set to stimulate growth up and down the production chain and create new jobs that could number in the millions. However, vital to this plan will be efforts to encourage banks to boost lending to crop farmers and large-scale processors, as well as for the government to deliver on its promises.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a new initiative that could boost private sector lending to the agriculture industry. The Nigerian Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) was formally unveiled at a conference in Abuja on July 5-6. The purpose of the CBN-organised event was for stakeholders to gather to discuss the new initiative.

With food security becoming a growing concern worldwide, the Nigerian agriculture sector has recently become the focus of multiple investment programmes. The government is taking a proactive approach to boosting domestic production and has designed a plan to help the nation fulfil its agricultural potential.