Clarion Olusegun
Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has called for urgent and inclusive financial support to empower youth and women in agribusiness.
The Minister made the call on Monday, in Abuja, while delivering a keynote address at the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) High-Level Policy Dialogue, themed “Bridging the Gap: Access to Finance and Empowering Youth and Women for Agribusiness Success.
Describing them as “the engine of Nigeria’s food sovereignty and economic resilience”, the Minister stated that the future of Nigeria’s agricultural transformation rests on equipping the nation’s youth and women with the capital, tools, and confidence to lead.
He said: “To feed Nigeria and generate jobs at scale, we must be deliberate in financing and empowering those who will drive this transformation,” Kyari stated. “This is not just an economic necessity; it is a strategic pillar of nation-building.”
Highlighting the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Tinubu, Kyari reaffirmed food security as a “sovereign duty,” noting that the government’s policies are geared toward reclaiming control over food systems through local production, value addition, and job creation.
“Food sovereignty means reducing our reliance on imports and investing in the strength of Nigerian farmers, processors, and agribusinesses as the foundation of national resilience,” he said.
Kyari noted that while agriculture contributes about 25% to Nigeria’s GDP, youth under 35 make up less than 10% of formal agribusiness owners.
He added that this gap is not due to lack of interest, but lack of enabling systems.
He made references to persistent barriers such as limited access to land, credit, mechanisation, and infrastructure.
To address these challenges, the Minister outlined key federal initiatives, including:
– The National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) to support mechanisation, digital tools, and youth-focused innovation.
– The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), now operational, aimed at mobilising long-term capital for infrastructure and climate-smart agriculture.
– The recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) with ₦1.5 trillion ($1 billion USD) to enhance credit access, particularly for youth and women-led enterprises.
Speaking further, he recalled the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM), launched in May and coordinated by the Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit, which is already impacting over 250,000 farmers across states.
Meanwhile, the minister laid out five priority policy actions embedded in the NAPM:
– Inclusive financing and enterprise incubation for youth and women.
– A digital one-stop platform for access to finance, mechanisation, and markets.
– State-level agribusiness coordination desks.
– Shared infrastructure and support for cooperatives.
– A monitoring framework to track enterprise and productivity growth.
The Minister emphasized that structural gaps remain, especially in financing and value addition, noting that less than 14% of young agripreneurs have access to formal credit and most smallholder farmers remain financially excluded.
“To translate bold reforms into real impact, we must establish annual lending targets, finance cash flows, not just collateral and pair credit with capacity development,” he said.
He praised youth-led innovations such as soilless farming, AI-powered precision agriculture, and biofortified cassava processing, urging banks and DFIs to channel capital to these emerging sectors.
He called on all stakeholders to commit to a shared compact of finance that is easier to access, standards that open markets, technology that raises yields, artnerships that deliver results.
“If we do these things together, we will feed Nigeria, grow our economy, and invest today in the promise of our youth and women”, he added.
The dialogue, convened by AfDB, to create actionable pathways to close Nigeria’s agricultural financing gaps, particularly for young and female entrepreneurs, brought together stakeholders from government, development finance institutions, commercial banks, private sector actors, and agripreneurs across Nigeria.
The event was attended by dignitaries including Dr. Abdul Kamara, AfDB Country Director; Ambassador Prof. Olufolake Abdulrazaq, First Lady of Kwara State; Prof. Attahiru Jega, Special Adviser to the President on Livestock Development; representatives of the Central Bank, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, and National Credit Guarantee Company; as well as development partners and private sector stakeholders.
