Federal Government has charged the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to adopt innovative financing mechanisms and blended finance arrangements to reduce risks associated with agricultural lending and expand access to credit.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, gave the charge on Tuesday at a retreat for the newly inaugurated governing board of BOA in Abuja.
Kyari said the inauguration of the board represented an important step in the government’s efforts to strengthen the institution and reposition it to effectively support Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
He urged the board to deploy guarantees, credit enhancement schemes and other appropriate financial instruments to widen access to agricultural finance.
According to him, the objective should be to build a stronger and more sustainable agricultural financing ecosystem capable of supporting farmers and agribusinesses across the agricultural value chain.
He stressed the need for affordable and accessible financial services to reach smallholder farmers in rural communities, women involved in agricultural production and processing, young Nigerians entering agribusiness, cooperatives and enterprises requiring capital for production, processing, storage and marketing.
Kyari noted that the challenges confronting agricultural finance in Nigeria were significant and could not be addressed by BOA alone.
He therefore called for stronger collaboration between the bank, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, state governments and development partners to mobilise additional resources, expand the bank’s reach and improve programme delivery.
The minister said the Federal Government’s priorities under the Renewed Hope Agenda included increasing food production, improving productivity, strengthening agricultural value chains, reducing post-harvest losses and promoting agro-processing.
He said BOA must be positioned as a key financial instrument for translating those priorities into measurable outcomes in the agricultural sector.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, described BOA as a strategic institution in the transformation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Abdullahi said the bank, as the country’s foremost agricultural development finance institution, had a critical role in providing accessible and sustainable financing to farmers and agribusinesses.
He urged the management and board to make the bank more responsive to the realities confronting farmers and businesses operating across the agricultural value chain.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, said the retreat was taking place at a critical period in the transformation of the agricultural sector.
He said the government was repositioning agriculture beyond food production to serve as a driver of food security, economic diversification, employment generation and industrialisation.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the BOA Board, Muhammad Babangida, said the bank occupied a strategic position in Nigeria’s economic development.
Babangida said the effectiveness of the institution had direct implications for farmers, agribusinesses, rural communities, food production, employment and national food security.
He said the board would focus on providing sound strategic oversight, strengthening corporate governance and holding management accountable for performance.
Babangida pledged that the board would work towards building a stronger, more efficient and impactful BOA capable of supporting farmers and agribusinesses while contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic development.
