Despite sitting on over 84 million hectares of arable land, Nigeria’s agriculture sector continues to grapple with low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, climate-related shocks and, most critically, limited access to finance. Hence, recent developments suggest a transformation is underway, one driven not by more farmland, but by smarter and more inclusive financing.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), only seven per cent of Nigeria’s farmers accessed formal credit in 2022. This constrains funding and stifles productivity across the country’s agricultural value chains.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), agriculture remains a key contributor to Nigeria’s output, employing around 35 per cent of the workforce. Yet, smallholder farmers and agribusiness operators often face difficulty obtaining credit due to perceived risks and weak collateral systems.
Historically, commercial banks, in turn, have viewed the sector as unbankable and asked that it be derisked to make it ready for funding. Good enough, the trend is changing as financial institutions are introducing agric-focused products.
For instance, Sterling Bank has introduced a tailored model designed to reduce risk and support end-to-end agricultural productivity to shift the paradigm. The scheme is becoming a driving force in repositioning agriculture as a viable and scalable business opportunity through financial innovation.
Through its ‘HEART strategy’, an acronym for Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation, Sterling has developed a comprehensive agriculture finance value chain model known as AgFin. The model targets the entire agricultural ecosystem, offering credit and technical support not only to farmers but also to processors, aggregators and input suppliers. The approach is enabling thousands of smallholder farmers to scale sustainably while also strengthening food security. But according to the bank’s Managing Director and CEO and Abubakar Suleiman, the commitment goes beyond lending.
“We are investing in the entire value chains, not just farms. That means supporting processors, aggregators, and market access,” he said. Sterling’s approach integrates both financing and technology. Through collaborations with agritech startups, the bank provides farmers with real-time weather analytics, remote diagnostics and access to market intelligence. Its commodity trading platform, SABEX, helps link farmers directly to buyers, eliminating middlemen and improving price transparency.
Another initiative, SWAY-AgFin, is focused on increasing access to finance for women and youth, addressing longstanding inequities in the system. One of the most illustrative examples of Sterling Bank’s impact is its ongoing partnership with Palm Valley Nigeria Limited, a company engaged in maize and rice cultivation.
In 2021, Palm Valley secured N276 million from the bank to support 1,500 farmers. The following year, that figure rose to N250 million, expanding coverage to 1,700 farmers across 1,313 hectares. By 2023, financing increased again to N461 million and in 2024, Sterling provided N819 million to support the cultivation of hybrid vitamin A maize involving over 2,000 farmers.
The success of this initiative has attracted new partners and reinforced the viability of structured, scalable agricultural financing. The bank has also made significant investments in capacity building. To date, more than 22,000 farmers have received training in modern farming techniques, and over one million have benefited from Sterling Bank’s agricultural loan products. Overall, the bank has disbursed over N500 billion in agricultural loans across the country.
Sterling’s role in reshaping Nigeria’s food production landscape extends beyond financing.
Through its flagship annual policy platform, Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA), the bank convenes leading voices and change makers from the public and private sectors to discuss pressing issues in agriculture.
ASA is a policy-driven forum advancing innovation, inclusive market access and strategic collaboration across the agricultural value chain. The summit has attracted partnerships with organisations such as the Mastercard Foundation, Benue State Government, Leadway Assurance and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), among others.
The alliance has enriched the summit’s outcomes, powering farmer advisory programmes, nationwide radio initiatives and evidence-backed policy dialogues designed to turn insights into actions.
Speaking on the future of agricultural finance, the Group Head of Agric Finance and Solid Minerals at Sterling Bank, Dr Olushola Obikanye, emphasised the importance of structured commodity financing, an approach that allows farmers to use their harvest as collateral. He noted that this model reduces risk and improves access to liquidity, particularly for small-scale producers.
Sterling Bank’s inclusion in the Nigerian Food Systems Transformation Alliance further reflects its growing role in shaping agricultural outcomes at the national level. This alliance, which brings together major stakeholders in the food and financial sectors along with government agencies, is working to build a resilient, inclusive food system by the year 2030.
As part of this vision, Sterling Bank said it plans to expand its offerings in poultry finance, fertiliser loans and agricultural equipment leasing. SABEX, the bank’s digital commodity trading platform, continues to play a critical role in bridging the gap between supply and demand in the agricultural sector.
By enabling farmers to sell directly to buyers, SABEX ensures timely payments and better pricing, reducing the exploitative influence of middlemen and encouraging greater productivity.
The shift from traditional to tech-enabled agricultural financing comes at a crucial time for Nigeria. With a growing population, increased food demand, and vulnerability to global supply shocks, the country must find sustainable ways to feed its people while boosting local economic development. Financial innovation driven by institutions like Sterling Bank is proving that agriculture can be both profitable and inclusive.
Sterling Bank’s holistic model is helping to reframe food security not just as a policy aspiration but as a viable, bankable reality. With continued investment, strategic partnerships and technology integration, the bank is demonstrating that Nigeria’s agricultural potential can be fully realised, one harvest at a time.
