World Bank approves $500 million credit for Nigeria's agricultural value chains
The World Bank has approved a $500 million AGROW credit for Nigeria to lift farm productivity, improve market access and strengthen food security.
The World Bank approved a $500 million credit for Nigeria on March 30 for the Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Nigeria's Agri-food Sector project, known as AGROW. According to the source report, the operation is meant to raise agricultural productivity, improve market access, create jobs and strengthen food security across the country.
The article says agriculture remains Nigeria's biggest source of employment, but the sector is still held back by low productivity, weak access to quality inputs, climate shocks and poor links between farmers and markets. As a result, many smallholders continue to produce mainly for subsistence instead of scaling into stronger commercial supply chains.
AGROW is intended to support the points where value is often lost, including aggregation, post-harvest handling, storage, processing and access to buyers. Priority value chains named in the report include rice, maize, cassava and soybean. The package also covers agricultural research, extension services, climate-resilient seed systems and a national digital farmer registry linked to advisory and weather services.
Another part of the reform agenda targets seed and fertilizer systems. The World Bank says the project should strengthen early-generation seed supply, encourage private production of high-quality seed, expand farmers' access to inputs and make land-based investments more transparent. In a sector where input quality and availability remain chronic bottlenecks, those measures are directly tied to yield and income outcomes.
World Bank country director for Nigeria Mathew Verghis said the operation could directly benefit up to one million smallholder farmers and mobilize about $220 million in private capital. The implementation period is set to run from 2026 to 2032, signaling a multi-year restructuring effort rather than a short emergency intervention.
The source also notes that Nigeria is already one of the World Bank's largest borrowers in Africa. As of September 30, 2025, the country's exposure to the institution stood at $19.54 billion, or roughly 40.34% of its external debt. That makes the new agricultural package significant not only for farm households and processors, but also for wider development financing policy.