The Bank of Agriculture (BoA) has stepped up efforts to improve women farmers’ access to funding, agricultural inputs, mechanisation and markets as part of its strategy to increase food production and strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural value chains.
The Bank said its interventions are aimed at tackling the challenges that continue to limit the productivity of women and other smallholder farmers, stressing that agricultural financing should extend beyond the release of funds to cover the entire production process.
As part of the initiative, BoA recently provided agricultural inputs to women farmers in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to support their ongoing farming activities.
According to the Bank, the intervention is part of a broader effort to respond to farmers’ practical needs and ensure they have the resources required to convert access to land, labour and financing into higher production and income.
Women account for a significant portion of Nigeria’s agricultural workforce but still face challenges in accessing finance and other productive resources. Estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that women make up as much as 70 per cent of the agricultural workforce.
World Bank evidence also indicates that reducing the gender gap in access to productive resources could increase agricultural output, strengthen food security and help reduce poverty.
Despite their contribution to the sector, women farmers remain underserved by formal financial institutions. Recent World Bank data shows that only three per cent of female farmers in Nigeria are formally enrolled in financial systems, compared with 10 per cent of male farmers.
BoA Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ayodeji Oludare Sotinrin, said expanding agricultural finance must be matched with solutions to other challenges affecting farmers’ productivity.
Sotinrin said women already make substantial contributions to agriculture and the country’s food system, adding that BoA is working to create an environment that gives them greater opportunities to produce, expand their businesses and participate in the agricultural value chain.
He stressed that agricultural financing should not stop at disbursement, noting that farmers also require inputs, mechanisation, market access and other forms of support to convert financing into actual output.
According to him, the approach is being implemented through the Bank’s Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Fund, which is partnering with farmer aggregation companies to bring more than two million smallholder farmers into a structured, Federal Government-backed on-lending programme.
Under the arrangement, farmers are expected to receive financing alongside agricultural inputs, agronomic assistance and offtake agreements, with the focus placed on increasing production rather than simply measuring the amount of credit released.
The Bank is also deploying a N250 billion facility to provide single-digit financing to smallholder farmers, while its N1.5 trillion recapitalisation is expected to increase its ability to expand agricultural lending and reach more farmers nationwide.
BoA said improving access to finance is particularly important for women farmers because financial exclusion is often accompanied by limited access to inputs, technology, mechanisation and markets.
It added that its financing model is designed to connect farmers not only with capital but also with production infrastructure, technical support and market opportunities that can improve their earnings.
Through its Guaranteed Minimum Price Aggregation Programme, the Bank is also connecting farmers producing selected commodities with structured aggregation systems, accredited warehouses and guaranteed offtake arrangements.
The initiative is expected to give farmers greater confidence in the market for their produce while reducing some of the risks associated with agricultural production and post-harvest marketing.
BoA said closing the gap between farmers’ productive capacity and their access to finance and other resources would be crucial to Nigeria’s efforts to raise domestic food production, improve food security and build stronger agricultural value chains.
The Bank pledged to strengthen partnerships, financing mechanisms and value-chain programmes that will bring more farmers, particularly women and underserved smallholder producers, into the formal agricultural economy while creating stronger connections between finance, production and markets.
