NADF Partners With BOA to Give Women, Youths Agricultural Loans
- The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) and the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) have signed an agreement to give agricultural loans to women and youths
- Farmers and entrepreneurs in the cassava farming and processing sector will be prioritised, according to the institutions
- The federal government had earlier announced plans to industrialise the cassava sector for manufacturing purposes
Oluwatobi Odeyinka is a business editor at Legit.ng covering energy, money market, tech and macroeconomic trends in Nigeria
The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has entered into a tripartite agreement with IDH and the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to give affordable loans to agripreneurs, especially women and youths.
The agreement was signed during the Women in Sourcing and Enterprise (WISE) Programme in Lagos, and it was disclosed that women in the cassava value chain would be prioritised, PUNCH reported.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the partners said the move is aimed at expanding access to financing for young people and women in agribusiness.
Source: Getty Images
Speakers at the event acknowledge the difficulty faced by small farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs in accessing grants and loans.
They noted that many struggle with high interest rates, limited collateral, and a lack of financial products tailored to their needs, making it difficult to expand or invest in modern farming practices.
Under the new collaboration, NADF, IDH, and BOA will work together to improve agricultural credit, develop a Seed Capital Facility, and put systems in place to help smallholder farmers and agribusinesses access affordable or blended financing options.
Representatives of the organisations said the initiative will support national efforts to improve food systems and promote greater participation of youth and women in agriculture, especially in the cassava sector.
The three institutions will also collaborate through the Nigerian Food Systems Transformation Alliance, a platform designed to coordinate interventions that enhance food security and create sustainable jobs across the agricultural value chain.
Speaking at the event, IDH CEO Daan Wensing said the partnership is an important step toward resolving funding barriers that limit youth involvement in agriculture.
“Access to finance remains one of the key barriers for young agripreneurs. With this collaboration, we are catalysing new opportunities that will enable them to participate meaningfully across the cassava value chain,” he said.
The Managing Director of BOA, Ayodeji Sotinrin, pledged the bank’s commitment to inclusive agricultural development, saying it is the bank’s goal to finance as many farmers as possible without leaving anyone behind.
Starting with Cassava farmers
NADF’s Head of Debt Investment, Abdullahi Imam, who represented the Fund’s Executive Secretary, said the collaboration offers a strong foundation for expanding opportunities for youth and women.
He said the funding opportunity will start with young women and youths in the cassava value chain, and it will later be extended to farmers and agripreneurs in other crop sectors such as maize, rice, and soybeans.
Source: Getty Images
FG to industrialise cassava sector
Legit.ng earlier reported that the federal government has announced plans to industrialise the cassava sector to aid the manufacturing of high-value finished products from cassava.
The government noted that even though Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, most of it is exported as raw material with little value.
The office of the Secretary to the Federal Government said policies are underway to expand cassava processing into products such as starch, ethanol, flour and animal feed, to drive cassava-based manufacturing in the country.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu recently appointed Muhammad Babangida, the son of former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, as chairman of the Bank of Industry.
Source: Legit.ng
