The Bank of Agriculture has unveiled a strategic roadmap to modernise its operations, deepen grassroots financial inclusion, and accelerate agricultural transformation in support of the Federal Government’s food security agenda.
In a statement issued on Friday, the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ayodeji Sotinrin, said the institution is rolling out operational reforms and building strategic partnerships to strengthen the delivery of agricultural intervention programmes while expanding access to finance and support for smallholder farmers nationwide.
According to the statement, the Bank of Agriculture is strengthening its agricultural delivery framework by expanding partnerships with state-level implementation platforms, licensed input suppliers, and international development organisations to enhance support for farmers.
The bank said a key pillar of the strategy is its recently signed Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Development Programme, which aligns its revitalisation agenda with the UNDP’s Integrated Smart States Programme to drive inclusive agricultural development and improve service delivery.
The bank said the partnership is expected to help transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector into an investment-ready ecosystem capable of attracting blended and climate finance.
It added that the collaboration would also support the One Million Hectare Tree Crop Initiative, a presidential priority designed to expand commercial agriculture, create jobs, and diversify the country’s export base.
Sotinrin said, “Our vision for the Bank of Agriculture is to deploy capital in an intelligent, smart, and highly efficient way to reposition the institution as a catalyst for food security and rural prosperity. We are bringing everyone into the financial net, especially the youthful population of farmers in our hinterlands, to create a new, resilient food system for Nigeria.”
The Bank also said it has strengthened its beneficiary verification framework to eliminate fraudulent claims and ensure agricultural interventions are delivered to genuine farmers across the country.
According to the statement, the bank’s enhanced credit profiling system integrates Bank Verification Number verification, Know Your Customer protocols, and GPS farm mapping to improve transparency, accountability, and the accuracy of loan disbursement.
Commenting on the initiative, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Muhammad Magaji, welcomed the strengthened verification measures but called for faster loan disbursement to ensure farmers receive timely support.
He said, “The All Farmers Association of Nigeria recognises the critical role the Bank of Agriculture plays in shielding our farmers from exorbitant commercial interest rates. While we continuously advocate for faster disbursement cycles to match planting seasons, we stand with the BOA on the need for strict verification.
“It is the only way to ensure that these interventions reach the genuine smallholder farmers who actually till the soil, rather than ‘political farmers.’ We remain committed to working closely with the BOA management to fine-tune this delivery framework.”
The Bank of Agriculture said it is modernising its nationwide operations through the deployment of digital farmer management systems, agency banking models, and solar-powered infrastructure across its 110 branches to improve service delivery, particularly in rural communities.
The bank added that recent ICT infrastructure support from the United Nations Development Programme would accelerate its digital transformation, enabling it to deliver financial services and agricultural extension support directly to farmers across the country.
