It is a leaping giant to get Nigeria to its role as West Africa’s agricultural economic behemoth that the federal government, in a dramatic turn of events, has requested that the Bank of Agriculture be recapitalized to the eye-popping figure of N1.5 trillion and expended another N200 billion to specifically invest in agriculture projects nationwide.Â
It is one of the largest sums of money ever invested in the sector in recent Nigerian history.
Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, announced in Abuja during the reception of a strategic visit from a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture of The Gambia. The investment, he said, will shatter age-long credit ceilings to farmers, enhance food security, and drive Nigeria towards agricultural self-reliance.
Central to the reform is also the new N1.5 trillion injection into the Bank of Agriculture, a braver financial injection into the sector. The recapitalization will bridge the funding gap for the agri-entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers who are in millions and equip them with accessible loans and access to the utilization of improved agriculture inputs. This, the N200 billion spending, will go into sundry intervention programs such as equipment subsidies, farmer training, extension services, and research support systems.
As an intervention starting point, the government has already distributed over 2.15 million bags of fertilizers to farmers nationwide. It is part of an extensive campaign to augment production and lower the price of food, particularly as inflation and weather patterns continue to erode family food security.
The conference also served as a platform for interregional collaboration. The Gambia’s Agriculture Minister, Demba Sabally, glorified the Nigerian model, particularly its rice production, farm mechanization, and out-grower scheme experience. Sabally stated that the Gambian vision to become self-sufficient in rice by 2030 is now within reach, with Nigeria’s experience as a lesson. He especially invited Nigeria to have a specific Rice Ambassador who would mentor and counsel The Gambia’s domestication at the national level of the same agriculture.
The Gambian delegation also toured Nigeria’s mechanization plant under the National Agricultural Seed Council in Sheda, Abuja, and was touched. The Permanent Secretary of Agriculture in the country, Nyangado Alhagie, called the visit “transformational” and hoped that The Gambia would benefit from Nigeria’s experience through supported assistance and information exchange.
Minister Kyari assured the visiting delegation that Nigeria is poised to contribute to regional food security efforts, taking cue from President Bola Tinubu’s July 2023 declaration of the national food crisis as the benchmark. Agricultural transformation has thus been the cornerstone of government policy, particularly emphasizing mechanization, empowerment of agricultural youths, evidence-based policy making, and food sovereignty.
One of the mainstays of this approach is the National Agricultural Registry, whose objective is to register 42 million farming households in Nigeria online. The registry will enable policy targeting to be relaxed, enhance the process of resource allocation, and help ensure aid reaches its beneficiaries in due time.
Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, underscored the importance of cross-border cooperation. He reiterated that the development of Nigeria’s rice capacity is something other regional nations could emulate, which would allow them to produce more locally and achieve food security.
Nigeria, for its part, is revolutionizing its agricultural landscape through visionary policy and investment approach and reaching out to the rest of its West African neighbors in leadership and support. The new initiative has the potential for a new era of economic might, food security, and agriculturally empowered region—and one led by the continent’s most populous nation.
