The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has continued to spearhead transformative initiatives aimed at redefining agriculture in Nigeria in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.
This was disclosed by the executive secretary of the Fund, Muhammed Abu Ibrahim, at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Ogun State capital, while delivering convocation lecture on Saturday adding that, “Our ultimate mission is to harness the transformative power of agriculture to drive socio-economic development through inclusive financing and sustainable support.”
The NADF boss, who served as the convocation guest speaker, further revealed four major focuses of funding agriculture by the agency. The four major areas include inputs, implements & mechanisation, infrastructure and emergency response to agricultural disasters.
According to the executive secretary, the new perspective to agriculture as envisioned by the Fund in line with global best practices is that “Agriculture today is a thriving playground of innovation, technology, and boundless opportunity with drones that monitor crop health, apps that connect farmers to markets, and advanced machinery that maximizes yields—the possibilities are endless.
“Agriculture is no longer just a livelihood; it is a goldmine of opportunities waiting to be tapped,” Ibrahim said. He stressed that with the consistent support of the president, “the Fund is not just imagining a brighter future for Nigerian agriculture; we are building, within the past year, the Fund has achieved remarkable footprints in Emergency response to agriculture, driving mechanisation, building partnerships and research.”
In emergency response, Ibrahim said the first project that the Fund responded to was on the Ginger blight epidemic. Ginger is Nigeria’s fastest-growing export commodity, was hit by a devastating epidemic that wiped out about 80% of produce. “This disease occurred within the heart of Nigeria’s ginger-growing belt in Kaduna State affecting 7 local governments with estimates of about 10,000 ha of farmland, thousands of farmers, merchants, processors, distributors and the whole value-chain normally associated with cash crops,” he disclosed.
The Fund boss hinted at the federal government directive for NADF to implement one of its mechanisation programmes in partnership with John Deere and TATA Africa Services. The project entails the deployment of 10,000 tractors over a period of 5 years, starting with 2000 units this year. According to him, the initiative will create jobs, boost crop yields, and make Nigerian agriculture globally competitive.
The executive secretary said NADF has continued to build partnerships and collaboration in resource mobilisation and optimization of scale. To date, the Fund has engaged with numerous development partners, government agencies, and sub-nationals. Some of the key engagements include partnering with GIZ to develop climate-smart agriculture and gender-inclusive framework for NADF programmes.
