The Federal Government has secured a $500 million loan from the World Bank to drive growth across Nigeria’s agricultural value chains in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on food security and rural industrialisation.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this during a meeting with a World Bank delegation led by the Head of the Agriculture Value Chains for Growth (AGROW) Project, Hardwick Ichale, in Abuja.
Kyari said the facility will help strengthen the agricultural sector by addressing long-standing gaps among smallholder farmers and improving linkages across production, processing and marketing systems.
“The World Bank’s support will strengthen our agricultural base by improving connectivity across production, processing and marketing systems. This is about turning smallholder farming into profitable, sustainable agribusiness,” he said.
The minister explained that the Agri-Connect initiative — a six-year, $14 billion programme of the World Bank — aims to integrate farmers, processors, markets and financial services into stronger and more efficient value chains. He said this would help expand agro-processing capacity, improve rural livelihoods and create opportunities for youth and women in agribusiness.
Kyari added that the intervention aligns with the government’s priorities on job creation, food affordability and rural development, and complements existing programmes such as the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones.
He also noted that the project would promote accountability and transparency to ensure maximum impact.
In his remarks, Ichale said the AGROW programme is designed to unlock Nigeria’s agribusiness potential by improving productivity, expanding employment and deepening private sector participation across the value chain.
Leave a Reply