NIRSAL Guarantees Over N100bn in Agricultural Loans
- NIRSAL's Credit Risk Guarantee scheme has revealed that more than N100bn in agricultural loans in 2025, and the agency says 2026 figures have already surpassed that total
- Non-interest financial institutions made up more than half of NIRSAL's guaranteed loans in the first half of 2026, signalling a shift in how agricultural funding is structured
- NIRSAL and AFRACA opened a week-long masterclass in Lagos bringing together financial professionals from Nigeria and five other African countries
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The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) says its Credit Risk Guarantee scheme backed agricultural loans worth more than N100 billion in 2025, with guarantees issued in 2026 already exceeding that full-year total.
NIRSAL disclosed at the opening of a week-long capacity-building masterclass in Lagos, organised jointly with the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) and other partners.
Source: Getty Images
The programme covers access to finance, climate-risk management, and the application of Artificial Intelligence in agricultural lending.
Financial-sector professionals from Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya are attending alongside Nigerian participants.
Commercial banks, insurance firms, development finance institutions, microfinance banks and central banks are all represented, including four African central banks.
NIRSAL's approach to agricultural lending
NIRSAL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sa'ad Hamidu, said the core problem holding back agricultural financing was the difficulty lenders face in understanding and managing sector-specific risks, Punch reports.
Hamidu, represented at the opening by NIRSAL Executive Director of Operations, Ewaen Imohe, said the organisation's risk-sharing model was designed to give financial institutions more confidence when lending to businesses along agricultural value chains, including farmers, processors, aggregators and exporters.
He said the guaranteed loans were part of a broader effort to help lenders develop financing structures suited to the realities of agricultural activity rather than applying conventional credit assessments that often exclude farm-based businesses.
Non-interest finance and climate risks
Hamidu said non-interest financial institutions accounted for more than 50% of all loans guaranteed by NIRSAL between January and June 2026, a figure he described as evidence that risk-sharing arrangements could draw a wider range of financial institutions into the agricultural sector.
Climate change also featured prominently in the discussions. Hamidu said shifting weather patterns were creating additional layers of risk for both farmers and the lenders who finance them.
Source: Getty Images
The masterclass is examining how financial institutions can assess climate-related risks and structure funding for adaptation and mitigation projects, as well as green-project financing and access to climate-finance facilities.
AFRACA Secretary-General, Ngo Bakang Anny Caroll, said the organisation was returning to Nigeria with its capacity-development programme for the first time since 2017, and noted that financial institutions had a critical role in directing capital towards agricultural development across the continent.
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