The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has stepped up efforts to improve access to finance, agricultural inputs and other productive resources for women farmers as part of measures to boost food production and strengthen livelihoods across Nigeria.
The bank said the initiative was informed by persistent challenges limiting women’s participation and productivity in the agricultural value chain, despite their significant contribution to the sector.
According to estimates cited from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women account for up to 70 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural workforce, with women farmers contributing substantially to the country’s food supply.
However, the bank noted that limited access to productive resources continues to constrain their potential, particularly access to finance, inputs, technology, mechanisation and markets.
Recent World Bank data cited by the bank indicates that only three per cent of female farmers in Nigeria are formally enrolled in financial systems, compared with 10 per cent of male farmers.
BOA said closing the gap would help women farmers increase their yields, improve household livelihoods and contribute more significantly to national food security.
As part of its intervention, the bank recently engaged women farmers in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory and provided agricultural inputs to support their ongoing farming activities.
The bank said the engagement was designed not only to provide immediate support but also to better understand the challenges confronting women farmers and develop interventions that address the full production cycle.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BOA, Ayodeji Oludare Sotinrin, said agricultural financing should extend beyond the disbursement of loans to addressing the practical constraints farmers face.
‘Women are already contributing significantly to agriculture and to Nigeria’s food system. Our responsibility is to ensure that the systems around them give them a better opportunity to produce, grow and participate in the value chain,’ he said.
Sotinrin added that farmers require access to inputs, mechanisation, markets and other support to translate financing into increased production.
‘Agricultural financing cannot end with disbursement. Farmers need access to inputs, mechanisation, markets and other support required to turn financing into output. That is the ecosystem we are building at the Bank of Agriculture,’ he said.
The bank said its approach is reflected in the Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Fund, through which it is working with farmer aggregation companies to bring more than two million smallholder farmers into a structured Federal Government-backed on-lending framework.
According to BOA, the model combines financing with agricultural inputs, agronomic support and offtake arrangements to increase production and improve farmers’ participation in the value chain.
The bank is also deploying a N250 billion facility to provide single-digit financing to smallholder farmers, while its N1.5 trillion recapitalisation is expected to expand its capacity to reach more farmers and deepen agricultural lending.
BOA said women farmers would particularly benefit from the integrated approach because the constraints they face are interconnected, with limited access to finance often compounded by difficulties obtaining inputs, technology, mechanisation and reliable markets.
The bank is also using its Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) Aggregation Programme to connect farmers producing selected commodities with structured aggregation, accredited warehouses and guaranteed offtake.
It said the arrangement is expected to provide farmers with greater certainty around markets while strengthening the link between financing, production and market access.
BOA said the overall objective is to make agricultural finance more responsive to the actual needs of farmers and enable them to convert access to capital and inputs into increased production.
The bank added that as Nigeria intensifies efforts to improve domestic food production and strengthen food security, expanding access to productive resources for underserved smallholder farmers, particularly women, would remain central to building resilient agricultural value chains.