NIRSAL Facilitates N70bn Agribusiness Funding

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) said it had facilitated over N70 billion in commercial financing for agribusiness as of Q3 2025, its strongest annual performance since inception.

NIRSAL, which has been in operation since 2013, stated that the latest represented nearly a quarter of the cumulative N270 billion it had facilitated for agriculture and agribusiness, underscoring the impact of its revamped strategy under its new Board and Executive Management.

Commenting on the development, NIRSAL’s managing director and chief executive, Sa’ad Hamidu, said, “N70 billion may appear modest compared to the size of Nigeria’s agricultural financing needs, but the significance is profound. It proves that agriculture can be commercially and sustainably financed. The sector can become more productive, resilient, and globally competitive with the right blend of capital, technical support, and risk mitigation.”

Hamidu added that NIRSAL remained confident of hitting its N150 billion target for 2025: “This is not yet the peak of the harvest season when merchants typically seek credit for offtake and storage, and when super agro-dealers stock up on fertilisers and inputs ahead of the next planting cycle. Therefore, the opportunities still to come give us every reason for optimism.”

The NIRSAL boss noted that the timing was critical, as bank lending to agriculture had been in steady decline, falling from 6.18 per cent of aggregate lending in 2022 to 4.82 per cent in 2024, while sectoral growth slowed from 2.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent within the same period.

He said that by applying its signature tools for value chain modelling to address identified issues, providing technical support to agribusinesses and financial institutions, while deploying its risk-sharing frameworks, NIRSAL had restored lender confidence, thus channelling fresh funds into key value chains, including grains, cocoa, shea, and livestock.

“In terms of impact, there has been an improvement in local production across key commodities and a positive trade balance for agriculture, with over 32 per cent of the facilitated sum directly supporting value-added commodity export. Agriculture’s share of bank lending has risen to 5.33 per cent as of May 2025, reflecting renewed interest from financiers. Two newly licensed banks have also entered the sector, relying on NIRSAL’s frameworks, contributing to the N70 billion facilitated this year.”