By Monsurat Abisoye
The Federal Government has said that achieving Nigeria’s agricultural transformation goals will require significantly more funding than public resources alone can provide, stressing the need for increased private sector participation.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund, Mohammed A. Ibrahim, said agriculture remains critical to the country’s food security, employment generation, industrial growth, export development, and overall economic prosperity.
He explained that the government is promoting a blended finance framework to attract private investment into the sector by reducing the risks associated with agribusiness. According to him, public funding alone cannot finance the scale of transformation required, while private investors are unlikely to commit sufficient capital unless agricultural risks are properly understood, shared, and managed.
Ibrahim noted that stakeholder engagements in 2025 revealed that although substantial funds exist within the financial system, including development finance and concessional funding, investment in agribusiness remains limited due to challenges surrounding risk assessment, investment structuring, and alignment with agricultural value chains.
He added that the government’s long-term goal is to establish a structured platform that enables capital providers, agribusiness operators, technical experts, and risk-sharing institutions to collaborate more effectively and unlock greater investment in the sector.
