The African Development Bank Group has approved a $200 million loan to support the second phase of Nigeria’s National Agricultural Growth Scheme – Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP), aiming to scale up priority agricultural investments that enhance productivity, strengthen value chains, and promote climate-smart, data-driven farming. This follows previous financing under the Bank Group’s African Emergency Food Production Facility and will directly support five key programmes under the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP), including access to high-quality inputs, value chain strengthening, revitalised extension services, digital and climate-smart agriculture, and agricultural data management.
The funding is designed to increase staple crop production using climate-resistant, high-yield seed varieties and tailored fertiliser blends while expanding access to crop insurance to protect farmers from climate-related losses. The programme targets a fivefold increase in wheat production and a 20 percent rise in rice output to strengthen national self-sufficiency. It also seeks to encourage Nigerian youth to adopt commercially oriented farming practices, positioning them as drivers of economic opportunity.
Dr. Abdul Kamara, African Development Bank Director General for Nigeria, emphasized that Phase 2 builds on lessons from the first phase, enhancing access to quality inputs, digital tools, and climate-smart technologies to boost productivity, resilience, and local production while reducing food imports and promoting inclusive growth.
Phase 1 of the programme successfully deployed an ICT-based system delivering seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides through over 600 agro-dealers nationwide. It also supported the cultivation of 118,000 hectares of wheat during the 2023/2024 dry season, tripling national wheat output to approximately 0.5 million metric tons. To date, around 650,000 smallholder farmers across wheat, rice, cassava, maize, sorghum, and millet have benefited from the initiative.
Agriculture remains a key sector in Nigeria, employing 38 percent of the workforce and contributing 25.2 percent of GDP, but low productivity persists due to limited access to quality inputs, inadequate land tenure, low irrigation coverage, climate impacts, and soil degradation.
The four-year Phase 2 project, starting in March 2026, aligns with the African Development Bank Group’s strategic vision for Africa by focusing on empowering young people and women through access to technology and financial support, advancing sustainable and inclusive agricultural development across Nigeria.
