The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has taken a major step toward reshaping agricultural financing in Nigeria by hosting its inaugural Networking Session with Fund Managers an engagement designed to deepen partnerships, increase investment participation, and unlock long-term capital for the country’s agrifood sector.
Held under the theme “Unlocking Agribusiness Financing in Nigeria: NADF as a Catalytic Partner,” the session took place on Wednesday at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. It convened leading fund managers, capital market operators, investment institutions, and development finance experts, marking a bold move by NADF to firmly position agriculture within mainstream investment discussions.
According to the Fund, the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its emphasis on food security and food sovereignty as core drivers of national economic stability.
Delivering the keynote address, NADF’s Executive Secretary, Mohammed Ibrahim, noted that transforming Nigeria’s agricultural sector requires structure, collaboration, and a financing framework capable of converting the sector’s immense potential into sustainable and investable value chains.
“We share a common goal—unlocking the full potential of Nigeria’s agriculture sector. The National Agricultural Development Fund was established to address financing gaps and enhance food security by providing structured support to farmers and agribusinesses. Our mission aligns profit with purpose, and partnerships with institutions such as yours are vital,” he told the audience.
Ibrahim emphasised that despite agriculture’s substantial contribution to GDP and employment, the sector continues to attract disproportionately low private investment. He explained that NADF is strategically positioned to bridge this gap by de-risking investments, strengthening value chain coordination, supporting processors through backward integration, and deploying blended financing instruments that draw in commercial capital.
He also highlighted the Fund’s recent initiatives on-lending programmes with banks, a digital farmer verification system, targeted support for women and youth, and the AgGrow processor-led integration scheme as key steps toward building a transparent, investable pipeline aligned with national priorities and investor expectations.
Guest speaker Aakif Merchant, Director of Engagement & Capacity-Building at Convergence Blended Finance, delivered a presentation on blended finance models in emerging markets and the global instruments Nigeria can leverage. He stressed the importance of catalytic tools such as guarantees, concessional tranches, and technical assistance to de-risk underserved agricultural segments, commending NADF for proactively engaging the investment community to strengthen Nigeria’s financing landscape.
Chapel Hill Denham CEO, Bolaji Balogun, also offered strong support for NADF’s initiatives, calling for urgent, long-term investment in agriculture. He underscored the sector’s potential to drive national development, revitalise rural communities, create millions of jobs, and generate export earnings. Balogun noted, however, that Nigeria continues to fall short because investment has not matched the sector’s infrastructure needs from processing facilities and storage systems to logistics and essential inputs.
He argued that Nigeria must shift from traditional bank-based financing to capital-market-led patient funding if agriculture is to thrive.
“The fundamental issue is how we begin to deploy much more long-term, patient financing into the sector. Agriculture requires capital that understands scale, gestation, and risk. We must embrace blended finance and longer-tenor investments if we are serious about unlocking the future of this economy,” Balogun said.
His views echoed NADF’s position that achieving sustainable food security requires strategic investment beyond seasonal lending particularly in infrastructure, mechanisation, processing, and market linkage across the entire value chain.
Other experts, including Tony Idugboe, Chief Investment Officer at ARM Agribusiness Fund Managers Ltd., noted that institutions like NADF serve as a critical bridge between government objectives and market financing realities. He stressed the need for blended and long-tenure financing instruments that can sustainably support farmers and processors.
Similarly, Oluwatosin Ojo of Sahel Capital called for deeper technical expertise and more diverse funding sources including philanthropic institutions, DFIs, commercial banks, and private capital providers to address structural gaps across the agricultural system. According to him, a more holistic financing ecosystem is essential to boosting food production, processing, distribution, and consumption nationwide.
A panel session on emerging trends and opportunities in agri-financing rounded off the event, reinforcing the shared belief that collaboration, patient capital, and innovative financing instruments are central to reducing risks and expanding investor confidence.
Overall, the session showcased NADF’s evolving role as a catalytic partner driving the investment architecture needed to unlock Nigeria’s agricultural potential, while contributing to the broader national goal of achieving food security and economic sovereignty under President Tinubu’s administration.
With stakeholders aligned around a unified vision and a clear financing pathway taking shape, the engagement signalled renewed confidence that Nigeria’s agrifood sector is on a transformative trajectory one that NADF is committed to leading.