A government agency is basically cosigning loans to get banks to finally fund farms. The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, or NIRSAL Plc, says it has backed over two hundred ninety billion naira in financing since 2013, hitting a yearly high of over one hundred billion in 2025 alone. Its CEO, Sa'ad Hamidu, framed this as shifting lender caution into confidence through credit guarantees.
The institution's work supported more than five hundred twenty thousand jobs and impacted over three million people. Their model uses risk-sharing agreements with forty-one financial partners to make loans for production, processing, and exports less scary for banks, resulting in a minuscule default rate below point eight percent. They also pushed agricultural insurance products, leading to billions in payouts to farmers.
NIRSAL, which just won an agrifinance award in Lagos, stresses it does not lend directly but acts as a middleman to de-risk the sector. They provide technical help like training and soil testing, while starting to explore climate finance through a Green Climate Fund partnership. Looking ahead, the group plans to keep scaling these efforts, believing the real work to transform Nigerian agriculture is just getting started.
The institution's work supported more than five hundred twenty thousand jobs and impacted over three million people. Their model uses risk-sharing agreements with forty-one financial partners to make loans for production, processing, and exports less scary for banks, resulting in a minuscule default rate below point eight percent. They also pushed agricultural insurance products, leading to billions in payouts to farmers.
NIRSAL, which just won an agrifinance award in Lagos, stresses it does not lend directly but acts as a middleman to de-risk the sector. They provide technical help like training and soil testing, while starting to explore climate finance through a Green Climate Fund partnership. Looking ahead, the group plans to keep scaling these efforts, believing the real work to transform Nigerian agriculture is just getting started.
