NIRSAL Plc has revealed that it approved Credit Risk Guarantees for agricultural loans valued at more than N100 billion in 2025, with the value of guaranteed loans in 2026 already exceeding the previous year’s figure.
The company made this known as the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association, in partnership with NIRSAL Plc and other stakeholders, commenced a week-long masterclass in Lagos focused on inclusive finance, climate resilience and the application of Artificial Intelligence in financial and agricultural finance.
The masterclass attracted financial-sector professionals from Nigeria and other African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
Participants comprised representatives from commercial banks, insurance companies, development finance institutions, microfinance banks and central banks, with four African central banks represented at the programme.
NIRSAL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sa’ad Hamidu, said the programme was designed to tackle some of the major challenges hindering access to finance for Africa’s agricultural sector.
Represented at the opening ceremony by NIRSAL Executive Director, Operations, Ewaen Imohe, Hamidu said the limited flow of funding into agriculture was not due to a lack of opportunities, but rather insufficient understanding and effective management of risks associated with the sector.
“At NIRSAL, we have always maintained that agriculture, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is not underfinanced because opportunities do not exist, but because the risks have not been sufficiently understood, measured, appropriately priced, and managed,” he said.
Hamidu said NIRSAL has addressed the challenge by developing financing frameworks and systems that strengthen agricultural value chains and enhance financial institutions’ capacity to identify, assess and manage risks.
He stated the value of loans supported by NIRSAL’s guarantees had already exceeded the amount recorded in 2025 as of the year-to-date period in 2026.
According to him, the financing was benefiting farmers, processors, aggregators, exporters and other businesses involved in various agricultural value chains.
Hamidu highlighted the increasing participation of non-interest financial institutions in agricultural financing as a notable development.
He said these institutions accounted for more than 50 per cent of the loans guaranteed by NIRSAL in the first half of 2026.
AFRACA Secretary-General, Ngo Bakang Anny Caroll, expressed satisfaction that the organisation’s capacity-building programme had returned to Nigeria for the first time since 2017.
She said African financial institutions, as custodians and distributors of capital, had a critical role to play in boosting the continent’s capacity to achieve sustainable food security while enhancing its competitiveness in the global market.
The programme also featured a presentation by Dr. Chris Myungu of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, a CGIAR partner, who introduced participants to the Africa Adaptation Atlas and CGIAR climate-rationale outputs.
