Olufemi Adeyemi
The African Development Bank Group has approved a $200 million loan to strengthen Nigeria’s climate-smart, technology-driven agriculture to strengthen food security and increase productivity across key value chains.
This funding will support the second phase of the federal government’s National Agricultural Growth Plan – AgroPocket (NAGS-AP), expanding farmers’ access to high-quality inputs, cutting-edge technology and data-driven farming practices across the country.
The four-year project, structured as a sector budget support, is scheduled to begin in March 2026. The project builds on earlier interventions under the World Bank’s Africa Emergency Food Production Facility and is designed to accelerate the adoption of climate-resilient agricultural systems.
Expanding the impact of technology
The bank said the second phase will draw lessons from the initial rollout of NAGS-AP and deepen its impact at scale.
Abdul Kamara, Director-General of the Nigeria AfDB, said the funding will help scale up priority investments that increase productivity and value addition.
“By expanding access to high-quality inputs, digital tools and climate-smart technologies, we are helping farmers improve productivity and resilience,” Kamara said. “This program will continue to play a key role in reducing food imports, increasing local production and promoting inclusive growth across the country.”
The bank added that the initiative is in line with the five main pillars of Nigeria’s National Agricultural Innovation Policy, which focuses on improving input access, strengthening value chains, revitalizing extension services, digital agriculture and strengthening data systems.
Build on previous achievements
The first phase of the National Agricultural Growth Plan brought tangible results by increasing transparency and efficiency through an ICT-based input distribution system.
More than 600 produce dealers supplied certified seeds, fertilizers, and crop protection products to farmers across the country. During the 2023/2024 dry season, approximately 118,000 hectares of wheat were cultivated under this scheme. Since then, national wheat production has tripled, reaching an estimated 500,000 tons in 2024.
An estimated 650,000 smallholder farmers growing wheat, rice, cassava, maize, sorghum and millet benefited from the first phase, laying the foundation for a second phase of climate-focused expansion.
Addressing structural constraints
Agriculture remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s economy, employing about 38 percent of the workforce and accounting for about a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. However, persistent structural challenges continue to limit its full potential.
Constraints such as limited access to improved seeds and fertilizers, weak land tenure systems, low irrigated area, climate stress and soil degradation suppress yields and discourage long-term investment.
The newly approved project aims to address these barriers and aims to increase wheat production by five times and rice production by 20%.
The $200 million loan facility follows another major intervention in November 2025, when the AfDB approved a $500 million loan to Nigeria to fund the second phase of the Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Program.
These interventions underpin the Bank’s continued efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s economic resilience by putting climate-smart agriculture at the heart of efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency and inclusive growth.
