The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed A. Ibrahim, has reaffirmed the Fund’s commitment to transforming agricultural finance across Nigeria and the African continent. He made this known in his keynote address delivered by Mr Nasir Ingawa, General Manager – Partnerships and Investor Relations, at the 2025 edition of Agricultural Summit Africa, themed “Survival of the Greenest: Reclaiming Africa’s Food Destiny.”
Ibrahim emphasized that achieving Africa’s food-security goals requires more than capital injections, noting that “it demands catalytic finance that derisks innovation, attracts private investment, and drives inclusive growth throughout the agricultural value chain.” He described the NADF as a fit-for-purpose institution leveraging blended-finance models to unlock value and resilience in one of Africa’s most vital yet risk-prone sectors.
According to him, the Fund is deploying first-loss capital mechanisms to build investor confidence while embedding climate-smart finance principles into all interventions. These include support for climate-resilient seeds, renewable energy for agro-processing, and efficient water-management systems aimed at boosting productivity and long-term sustainability.
“We are leveraging our limited public pockets to crowd in private capital,” he said, stressing that every naira deployed by the Fund is designed to multiply its value in productivity, employment, and social impact across rural and urban farming communities.
The Executive Secretary also highlighted that the NADF’s approach places smallholder farmers, women, and youth at the center of its agricultural development strategy. By strengthening cooperatives, expanding value-chain finance, and linking producers directly to markets and financial systems, the Fund aims to move Nigerian agriculture from subsistence to sustainability.
Calling for stronger collaboration, Ibrahim urged investors and development partners to “reconsider Nigerian agriculture through the lens of derisking tools” and move beyond isolated efforts toward integrated partnerships that share both risk and reward.
